


White Nightmare

by Fuqidkfigureitout



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27994356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuqidkfigureitout/pseuds/Fuqidkfigureitout
Summary: Jaune Arc woke up to a lovely day, where there was a misty white fog outside so thick that it forced the school to call classes off for the day. Whatever was in it, surely had malicious intent...
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. The fog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something I've wanted to do for a while. I am aware of how bare the tags are and I do plan on this being a White Knight fic, but since the first chapter isn't really the main focus of Weiss and Jaune, for the convenience of people that actually are looking for Weiss/Jaune fics that actually have, y'know, Weiss/Jaune, I didn't put the tag in for now.

It was a strange day for Jaune Arc.

He opened his eyes to an all too familiar ceiling, as an all too familiarly loud voice echoed across the room. The knight sat up on his bed and saw his loving team doing their own regular things. Nora was jumping on her bed, the sound of water running in the bathroom indicated that Pyrrha was taking a shower, and Ren was meditating on the same bed Nora was jumping on. This sort of loudness always brought a smile to his face.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" exclaimed Nora as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What time is it?" he asked sleepily.

The jittery girl looked over to a clock on the wall "Nine-thirty!" she spoke.

9:30!? They were late for class! Jaune yelped in fear by the time as a frightened frown graced his lips. "Shouldn't we be getting ready for class!?" he asked frantically.

"Look outside," Ren spoke softly, gesturing towards the window. Jaune looked out of the window to see nothing but white fog blocking their view. The sight could only put him in a state of surprise.

"Woah..." the knight said slowly, baffled at the sight.

"Classes are canceled!" Nora proclaimed.

Classes are canceled because of a little fog? Sure, it was thick, but it shouldn't be THAT thick to where classes needed to be canceled. Like he was complaining, a free day to hang out with friends? He wouldn't trade it for anything else!

Jaune stood up as he stretched his arms into the air and let out a bellowing yawn as Pyrrha conveniently exited the bathroom.

"Hey, Pyr." he greeted. "Will we be able to train today?" he asked, making sure if it was even safe to go to the roof to train. There were ever very specific circumstances where the two weren't able to train. 

"I'm afraid not," she responded, heading for the door. "The fog is too thick to be able to use the roof, so I'm calling it off for today," she stated, to his relief.

Jaune took a breath as the sudden arrival of fog was able to give him a free day off of Professor Port's sleep-inducing stories and Pyrrha's ruthless training regimen.

"I'm going for some breakfast." She stated.

"I'll join you in a sec, just let me get changed," he asked, going into the bathroom and quickly changing from his onesie to his usual hoodie and armor and stepped out to join her. Nora jumped off from her bed and joyously skipped to the door and joined them, and Ren soon stood up and joined the three as well.

* * *

They ventured towards the mess hall, finding barely any students on their way. Jaune opened the door to the large room to find it absolutely empty, with the only team there being none other than team RWBY, eating at their usual table. the team got their breakfast and quickly joined their sister team to eat.

"Hey, guys!" Ruby loudly greeted with a wave as the four sat down and started to eat. "There're no classes today," she stated obviously.

"We noticed," said Jaune, taking a bite of his toast. "This fog is really weird." In his entire life, he's never seen fog this thick. The four of them barely managed to find the mess hall even though it's only a few minutes away from their dorm.

"Yeah, it took us a while to get here," Yang started. "Ruby even went crazy!" she teased loudly, earning an angered look from her leader. 

"Yang, I swear I saw a Grimm out there!" Ruby defended. "It was completely white! And- And-"

Her description was cut short by Weiss interrupting "Ruby, first, there is no known Grimm that is completely white. Second, there is _no_ possible way a Grimm could even get into the school." The heiress's cold shutdown to the red reaper's claims earned a grumpy pout from Ruby.

A white Grimm? On school grounds? Usually, Jaune gave Ruby the benefit of the doubt when it came to her claims, but a white-furred Grimm casually walking around in one of the most prestigious huntsmen Academies on Remnant was insane. But Nora was intrigued.

"Really!?" Nora asked excitedly, fueling Ruby's determination to defend the sight she saw.

"Yeah! It was like a Beowolf, but it was skinnier!" Ruby stated, describing the Grimm she saw. "I even heard it chuckle!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Weiss yelled. "There, in every corner of Remnant, has NEVER been a white Grimm that could do something like chuckle!" she said coldly.

Yang put her hand onto Weiss's shoulder and pulled her back down to her seat. "Weiss, it's just her imagination," Yang said, trying to calm the heiress. Weiss let out a 'hmph' before she resumed to eat her scrambled eggs.

"Well I was thinking about trying to go to the library," Jaune started. "Do you want to join me, Weiss? We could study togethe-" His question was solidly shutdown by a solid 'no' from the Ice queen.

"I'll go with you!" Ruby proclaimed. "I'll prove what I saw was real!" she said determinately.

"And we'll be waiting..." Blake said softly, eyes still glued to her book.

After finishing his toast, Jaune stood up from his seat, and Ruby did the same. "Alright, Ruby, time to go."

The two ventured towards the door, Ruby pumped her fists into the air in excitement to prove her teammates wrong as he opened the door and left. 

"They're going to get lost," Ren spoke.

* * *

It had been twenty minutes since they left the mess hall and ventured towards the Library. The trip usually lasted 5 minutes. The only thing the two could see was the grass below them, indicating they weren't even on a path. Jaune was on the brink of a panic attack while Ruby was blissfully running around looking for the Grimm she claimed to have seen. 

"We should have been at the Library entrance ten minutes ago!" he said fearfully.

Ruby came close to his side. "Don't worry, Jaune. That just means more time to find the Grimm I saw!"

"Ruby, are you _sure_ what you saw wasn't just a student in white clothes?" he asked, getting annoyed by her ignorance of the fact that they were lost. "I'm sure of it!" she replied. 

He grumbled at her response. Ruby was persistent, but this was just insane!

He turned in a different direction. "Well, I'm gonna go this way..." he proclaimed, walking off into the mist.

It had been two minutes of walking and he was getting nowhere, the only indication that he even moved was the pavement under his feet. "Hey, Rubes?" he asked but was only met with silence.

No answer? "Ruby?" he called out again, looking around to see that the red reaper was nowhere to be found. Did she get lost? Did she not follow him when he said he was going in a different direction? "Ruby!?" he yelled out, worried that he would be stuck out here all alone. No response. He continued to call out her name until he eventually gave up. ' _Maybe I can find her by just walking'_ he thought to himself. So he did just that but found nothing. He started to get even more worried than he already was. Calling out her name wouldn't do a thing, and walking in a single direction would go nowhe-

_Slice!_

His breath hitched by the sudden jolt of stinging pain that erupted from the side of his head. He fell to the ground as he attempted to steady his breathing, but felt his hair being grabbed. The attacker lifted his head upward before smashing it into the ground, almost successfully blacking him out. What frightened him to the core were the words that came right before he shut his eyes.

**"Y̷o̷u̶ ̶m̴i̷g̶h̷t̵ ̴n̶o̷t̷ ̸b̵e̷ ̸t̵h̵e̵ ̴o̶r̴i̷g̸i̶n̸a̵l̸,̷ ̴b̴u̵t̷ ̵y̵o̶u̴'̸l̷l̷ ̷d̶o̵ ̴n̸i̶c̸e̵l̴y̷.̸"**

The voice sounded distorted. Corrupted. And he knew for damn sure it wasn't his fellow team leader.

He wasn't fully unconscious, because he was still barely able to hear an eruption of sniper rounds and screaming through the loud ringing in his ears before he blacked out again, and barely woke up to hear the panicked voices of others as he was being carried into what looked like the mess hall, and then he blacked out again.

* * *

Opening his eyes felt like hell. 

The sound of arguing filled his ears as he slowly opened his eyes, to see Ren and Pyrrha hovering over him while he was laying on a table in the mess hall.

"How could that idiot even hurt himself!?" the sound of Weiss' voice sounded like knives to the brain. "I told you, it was the Grimm I saw!" Ruby argued.

"Wh-...what happened...?" he groaned. 

"You need to get your stupid imagination in check!" Weiss hissed.

"How do you explain the giant claw mark across the side of his head, huh!?" Ruby yelled, jabbing a finger towards his direction, followed by the loud sound of heels clacking onto the floor, and an infuriated Weiss came into his view, examining the side of his head that he had been attacked. her angry state was soon invaded by surprise, but not much of it.

The heiress turned back to an angry-looking Ruby. "A Beowolf must have snuck into the campus! It would be expected due to this damned fog!" she complained.

His head felt like every word they continued to spit at each other was a dust truck to the head. "Can you keep it down...?" he asked softly, but they continued to argue.

_'Please, just shut up...'_ He thought.

"If it was a Beowolf he would've seen it coming from a mile away!" Ruby argued. "Oh, please! That failure of a huntsman probably couldn't even fight a beowolf!-"

**"SHUT UP!"** He yelled, quickly sitting up from his makeshift bed.

Jaune's yell quickly silenced everyone as it triggered everyone to flinch away from him in fear. Even yang looked up from her scroll in slight terror. Jaune never got angry, so finally hearing him yell at the top of his lungs made every person in the room look to him with eyes the size of saucers as he stared into Weiss' shocked eyes with pure, unbridled anger.

* * *

**"SHUT UP!"**

The two words were the only thing needed to shut her up from her argument with her team leader. She turned her head towards the sound of the demand. Who in their right mind would tell Weiss Schnee to shut up? No one! No one without being turned into a block of ice! Someone is going to have the wrath of a Schnee Braught upon them for even thinking about telling her to shut u-

_'Jaune?'_

Out of anyone to yell, Weiss thought Jaune would be the last person to yell that loud. It would've been more likely for her father to storm into the room to tell her to shut up than Jaune! Yet there he was, sitting up from the table with eyes of rage pointed directly at her own, a vein popping out from his head. Usually, when she talked bad about the dolt, he wouldn't say a word, but right then and there, for the first time, being finally yelled at by Jaune for being mean felt...

Unnatural...

The look of anger from the knight soon melted into guilt. "I'm- I'm sorry for yelling, i-it's just you guys were just... so loud..." he said softly, rubbing his forehead. 

Ruby, still frozen by his sudden outburst, started to calm down. "I'm sorry Jaune. You need sleep." she apologized.

Ruby glared at Weiss before the heiress let out a sigh of defeat.

"I... suppose we were too loud. I apologize."

It was only right to apologize. Her yelling only aggravated the headache Jaune was having after what looked like a faceplant to the pavement. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't surprised that the dunce could accidentally do something like trip and fall.

* * *

"It's fine... just keep it down. _Please._ " He pleaded lightly. The two nodded before sitting next to the rest of their team, and Jaune laid back down.

Yang let out a frustrated groan as she looked up from her scroll. "Well, guess we're stuck here. No signal." They looked at her like she was crazy.

"No signal?" Pyrrha repeated, earning a nod from Yang.

"The fog's jamming the connection," she stated matter-of-factly. 

Blake looked up from her book with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Really? I've never seen fog do that before." 

"Umm, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked.

"...Yeah?"

"Why aren't you healing your wound?"

Jaune looked to her in a state of confusion before activating his aura. The glow surrounded his body, but when the aura attempted to cover the claw mark, it pulsated away from it, before his aura deactivated, and the mark quickly turned into a scar. 

"That's..."

"Bizarre?" he finished her sentence.

"Yeah... I've never seen a Grimm attack do something like repel aura from wounds. And it turned into a scar extremely quickly." Pyrrha commented.

"Ooh, ooh!" Nora said eagerly, raising her hand like a child wanting to answer a question. "Yes, Nora?" Pyrrha asked. "What if it WASN'T a Grimm, and it was an alien from another world!?" The excited expression on her face showed that this wasn't a joke.

Weiss dug her face into her palm "No, that's stupid."

"Do you know what makes this even weirder?" Asked Jaune.

"What?" 

"My headache is completely gone."

This is all showing big, red flags for Jaune. He was attacked in the fog, his aura couldn't heal the wound, and now the headache from being smashed against the pavement is gone suddenly?

"You should get some sleep. It's only best." Pyrrha insisted. She was right, the sudden attack, the weird anomalies they were going through, being stuck in the mess hall all alone. It was all draining, and he was really tired, even though it had only been an hour and a half since he woke up from his bed back in his dorm.

"You're right, I should..." he agreed, laying back down and closing his eyes. The only thing he could hear was the sound of Yang playing games on her scroll and talking.

* * *

It was a wonderful dream.

The best dream he's ever had. Being married to Weiss with a child? The jackpot for a dream. The three were having dinner and talking, laughing like a family until a loud knock came on the door. "I'll get it!" Jaune insisted, getting up from his chair and going to answer the door. The trip was short, but the music playing on the radio fell silent as he reached for the doorknob and opened it.

"Good evening, Arc."

He froze.

A man in a black suit stood in front of him, but it was no man. The... _thing_ was made completely out of a fog that was thick enough to give a definitive shape to itself, and even then, the top of its head was like the mist was acting like an open fire on top of its head. The only facial features he could see were its eyes and the wicked grin on its face, being only a slightly darker shade of the pure white mist it was made of.

"Wh- What!?-"

His train of thought crashed into a burning fire as he was hit across the large living room behind him and hit the wall. He gasped as he hit the floor. he looked up to see the monster walking towards him before Weiss walked in with their child.

"Honey?" she asked.

"RUN! GETAWAY!" He pleaded frantically as the creature turned it's head a full 180 to see the sight, and it's grin grew larger.

"Oh, the NOSTALGIA!" it exclaimed, lending its hand out towards her. Weiss suddenly lifted into the air and quickly floated towards it as she struggled to breathe. "No! let go of her!" he pleaded desperately.

The thing let out a snarl that couldn't be described as anything other than disgusting. "It's p-pitiful... master's plan B really had the ARC as my vessel? Well, at least I'll have my fun!" it exclaimed to itself. It stuttered like a broken record.

"Let go of her!" Jaune yelled, finally earning its attention. "Oh? You don't like me holding your beloved like this? Well, how about this?" it growled.

It snapped its finger, and with that...

_Crack!_

He couldn't believe his eyes. The beast had just snapped Weiss' neck. Her body went limp as tears fell down his face in despair. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he yelled in anger, and its grin grew wider.

"Or do you not like this?" 

_Snap!_

The arm of Weiss's lifeless body suddenly bent backward, and it let out a crackling snap as the bones cracked like twigs.

"Or this?"

_Snap!_

Jaune watched in terror as another limb was mercilessly broken.

"This-" _Snap!_ "Is-" _Snap!_ "Truly-" __Snap!__ **"-INTOXICATING!"**

The psychopath opened its hand as it burst into sickeningly maniacal laughter, and Weiss' broken and morphed body fell onto the floor with a thud, and it soon faded into mist.

"Oh, don't worry little Arc..." it sarcastically reassured him, slowly leaning forward towards him as he spoke. "...This is all just a bad dream... a bad, bad, nightmare..." 

He cried as he looked up at the monster, who had its sickening grin plastered across its face. "W-What are you!?" he asked loudly.

"Your new best friend!" it exclaimed excitedly but had a hint of a vicious tone

The creature straightened itself and waved his hand into the air, and the house dissipated, only leaving a white dream world around them. "Alright, I had my fun!" it announced, "Now, to business!" 

The thing balled its hand, and Jaune floated upwards and was put on his feet. "Good evening! You have a lot of questions, I know! So speak up!" it demanded playfully.

"Who are you!? W-WHAT are you!?" he asked frantically.

"My name, Is **Unknown**."

The word echoed through the small dream realm. The sudden silence made it clear that even the biggest of Grimm would cower in fear by the mere mention of the name.

What was this thing? it _definitely_ wasn't a Grimm, and the distorted voice sounded exact to the one he heard right after his attack. "What are you?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his question.

"Now, now! All is in due time!" Unknown insisted.

to Jaune's dismay, it refused to answer what it was. But the sight of it is pretty obvious that it's otherworldly. "So, are you a part of my dream, or something from... the fog?" he asked hesitantly. Ticking it off would be the worst idea ever, keeping what it did in mind...

What it did to _Weiss..._

He shuddered by the sheer recallment. Yeah, it wasn't _really_ her, but it was still technically _her_. 

"The fog..." it answered.

"Where did you come from?" he asked bravely.

Unknown stood there for a moment before speaking. "...That is _**n̵o̷t̵**_ important..." it said darkly, its voice getting more distorted to emphasize the word 'not'. Question 1 on the 'things-not-to-ask-magical-being' list.

"Can I... wake up?" Jaune asked sheepishly.

"Of course. Where would the fun be in staying here... in this _prison_." it snarled its last words "Would you like to wake up?-" "Yes!" He answered desperately.

"...Very well..." he growled, before snapping his fingers. The floor soon started to tear like paper into a black void. "Make sure to say hi to Fall's target practice for me, will you...?" it growled, the devilish grin growing in amusement as Jaune fell into the void.

He could hear its frightening cackle all the way down...

* * *

"Weiss!?"

He shot up from the table frantically in a cold sweat, alarming everyone else. "Excuse me?" Weiss asked, annoyed by her name being called. The sound of her voice was enough to calm him down, More than usual. "I-I... I just had a bad dream..." he assured. "A very, very bad dream..." he shuddered.

"A dream about Weiss?~" Yang teased. "Oh, how cute!"

Next time, he'd make sure to not say anything near Yang.

"Can we hear about it!?" Nora asked excitedly.

He thought for a moment, before hesitating. "Well... I gue-"

**'Stop.'**

He caught himself from speaking after his brain processed the voice.

"-No!" he yelped. Nora looked at him with confusion before shrugging and sitting back down to eat whatever leftover food that was in the kitchen on her plate. "Well, I'm glad. I would rather not hear what that dolt dreams about. _especially_ if it includes me." she noted coldly. "What? afraid of a little _love_ Weiss?" Yang teased. 

How could he still hear Unknown? That's impossible!

_**'**_ **I'm still here, Arc!'** Unknown spoke. **_'_ I'm always here...'**

"Why are you-..." Jaune started, but stopped himself, knowing that talking to himself would only make the situation worse. They would all think he was crazy. _'Why are you here? in my head!?'_ he thought to himself, hoping he could listen to his thoughts. 

**'I'm in your h-head, Arc! And I'm inside them T-TOO!'** it stated venomously. Of course, he was in all the others too. They all had to inhale the fog, and he was just the unlucky person that was found by _whatever_ form Unknown took to find a human host. **'I can tell you what they're all thinking about** **RIGHT NOW!'** it exclaimed excitedly. _'_

_No! Don't! That's terrible!'_ Jaune argued, knowing it'd be a huge breach of privacy.

**'It's all boring anyway! Well, except for one..-'** _'_

_I said no!'_ he interrupted, making Unknown let out a disappointed grumble.

**' _fine._ Time for exploring then... Hopefully, I can find some _spicy_ dreams about Schnee...!' **it growled excitedly, earning a violent blush and an angered look from the knight. **'"Oh, Jaune! Don't stop!"'** it mocked in a spot-on impression of the heiress before it burst into a distorted sound that barely sounded like a laugh. Jaune could only sit there and blush at the teasing. He had a powerful dream-warping monster in his head, and it decided to tease him with sexual innuendos in what sounded like an exact impression of Weiss.

Pyrrha looked at Jaune with a face of confusion. "Jaune? Why are you blushing?" she asked. He shook his head trying to shake out the dirty thoughts from his train of thought. "I-I'm fine! Nothing," he replied. Pyrrha, looking satisfied with his answer, continued to talk with Ren.

**'Oh, god!'** Unknown said in disgust. 

_'_ _What? what is it?'_ Jaune asked worriedly. 

**'Belladonna!'** it started. **'Her mind is just miles and miles of smut, porn, and fetishes that not even _I_ have heard of before!' **

The last thing he needed right now was to hear about Blake's _fetishes._ They all knew she read smut, it was obvious. They all knew that Ninja's of love was popular for being the definition of 'smut', but Blake didn't know it. She's just at the assumption that they thought her books were just cheesy romance novels. What worried him further about it though was that her fetishes seemed to put a chaotic monster of mist in a state of disgust!

_'Please, please do not describe them to me.'_ Jaune pleaded desperately.

He heard it shudder before it gasped. **'That's not supposed to go _THERE!'_** It spoke out in shock. _'_

_Shut up, shut up!'_ he pleaded once more. 

**'Yes, yes! I agree... I might be the definition of evil, but no man should have to endure such... _shocking_ knowledge...' **He took a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of a book slamming shut. What put him more at ease was the sound of a match lighting, and a fire going ablaze. **'Well, I'm going to recuperate from that _experience._ Have fun, Arc!' **it said before he heard his head ring for a moment. 

"Look outside!" an excited Ruby announced. They all ushered towards the windows to find the fog completely cleared, and students starting to finally leave shelter into the outside world. Yang excitedly opened the doors and they all left. But something caught Jaune's attention.

A single small pool of blood right outside the mess hall.

_His_ blood.

How was that possible? He was in the middle of nowhere when he was attacked, yet his blood was on the path right outside the mess hall doors!

Something told him his entire world would be flipped on its head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this planned for SO long. Unknown is my absolute favorite OC I've ever created, and finally giving him his own fanfiction so I can write him dicking around and messing with the characters in dark and twisted ways for his amusement is exciting. His mystery is also a fun thing to write. Where'd he come from? Who's his master? What's plan B? That's for Unknown to know, and Jaune to find out!


	2. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares every night, constant childish teasing. This was apparently the plan of the fear-inducing monster in his head for Jaune.

It had been a few days since the fog came and went, and every time he would sleep, the _thing_ would destroy him. Every time some happy dream would happen to be in his mind while he slept it would be swiftly turned into a vicious nightmare.

and they all would end with Weiss getting brutally murdered.

What was so appealing to Unknown to make him go through such a terrible and painful experience? These night terrors kept him up at night. He barely got any sleep, he'd wake up in the middle of the night because of these nightmares, and every time he'd wake up the monster would let out a crackling laugh like it was _amusing._ But finally, for once, he actually got through a good dream without it ending with his crush's head on a pike via his mind's invader. He woke up at a proper time too! It was perfect!

Jaune was sitting in Prof- Doctor Oobleck's class, barely keeping up with the man's lectures. The fact that Unknown was purposefully messing with him didn't help either.

Unknown gasped dramatically **'Jaune, Weiss is looking at you!'** it exclaimed. Jaune quickly glanced to Weiss, and she was doing nothing of the sort, as she was glued to her notebook trying to take as many notes as she could.

 _'_ _Can you stop it?'_ Jaune pleaded, his desperate request fell to deaf ears as it was muted by Unknown laughing hysterically. 

**'You f-fell for it AGAIN! HAHAHA!'** it laughed.

Jaune grumbled at its low prank before the sound of an alarm ringing filled his ears. He sighed in relief as students started to quickly pack their things and start to leave. Jaune followed his team to their next class, and his least favorite, Professor Goodwitch's class. Combat class was always the worst, but Unknown sounded excited this time. Every time Jaune would be called to dual with someone Unknown would be silent the entire time. Only when he'd lose was when he'd speak, but it wouldn't be a teasing remark about his failure, he'd just go back to regular small pranks and teasing when he'd sit back down.

* * *

Jaune sat with his team watching students spar on the large stage in front of them, bullets flying and weapons clashing. It was always the loudest class of the day, but also the most fun to watch. Participating though? Not Jaune's favorite. And a second-year student was assisting for today's class.

 **'I** **have a plan...'** Unknown growled seriously, its jittery and chaotic tone completely wiped. **'You want to win? Yes, or no?'** it asked genuinely.

 _'_ _I mean, yeah, I do.'_ he thought hesitantly, not knowing of what Unknown would do.

 **'Then all you have to do is wait...'** it growled. Jaune's attention was caught by two students leaving the stage and Professor Goodwitch stepping forward, tablet in hand.

"And that's the match," she started. "The next match will be..." she looked to the tablet. "...Cardin Winchester, versus Jaune Arc," she announced, leaving Jaune to pout in disapproval, but he was still a little curious what Unknown was going to do. But his curiosity was overshadowed by worry. Would Unknown embarrass him? Would he explode, releasing Unknown from his mind to devour everyone? Unknown was extremely unpredictable, so trying to figure out what it was going to do would be impossible.

Jaune nervously stood up from his seat and saw Pyrrha smile at him, her smile reassuring him that her training would surely help him in his rematch with the bully. He slowly made his way to the locker room, gathered Crocea Mors, and headed to the stage, meeting Cardin across from him on the other side of the stage.

 **'Relax, Arc, And you'll get what you want...'** It growled reassuringly, which put Jaune more on edge. Since when had Unknown actually tried to help him? 

So he relaxed, Readying his trusty sword and shield to prepare to fight, dousing his worry with nice thoughts, like friends, family, and it actually wor-

He felt a thundering pain inside his head, and he felt himself quickly pass out.

* * *

She watched Jaune enter the stage, readying himself for a fight he'd inevitably lose. Nora and Ruby cheered enthusiastically while the others sat in anticipation.

"I bet forty lien he won't last 2 minutes." chimed Yang.

Weiss glared at the blonde with interest. "fifty lien. one minute." the heiress bet, handing her the money.

The two watched as he saw the knight flinch before his eyes closed and he started to fall to the ground, but he quickly caught himself.

"Woah, looks like he probably won't even last the first five seconds," said Yang. "What's wrong with Jaune?" she asked Pyrrha, who gave her a look of worry.

"He _has_ been waking up in the middle of the night ever since the attack happened..." she stated.

"That's not healthy at all!" Weiss argued. "He's your leader and you haven't even tried to help him?" she asked.

Weiss couldn't care less about Jaune's medical health. It was her sister team's irresponsible methods of helping their team leader that was the problem. Because there wasn't any! They haven't done anything at all! Every team needs a leader and having one that was under health would simply put the team in disarray in a fight. 

Pyrrha looked down to her lap in shame. Weiss was right, they haven't done a single thing to help him. "Woah, Weiss," Ruby spoke, surprised by her partner's sudden worry for Jaune's health. "Since when have you ever worried about _Jaune?"_ She asked.

Weiss gave the girl an icy glare. "Never! Every team needs a leader, and if a team's leader is sick it is their responsibility as their friend to help them recover!"

They fell quiet as Professor Goodwitch backed away into a safe area to mediate the spar. Jaune completely dropped his stance, straightening himself with his arms to his sides, and a smirk crept to his face. They looked to Pyrrha with confusion, hoping to get context to if it was a new stance he learned from her, to see the spartan in an even more confused look.

"Begin," Goodwitch announced.

Cardin readied himself with a smug look as Jaune stood there, without any sort of defensive or offensive stance. He lifted his hand and gestured with his finger for him to attack, with a grin spread across his face threatening to split his head in half. It was beyond the point of cocky and smug to just, looking _creepy._

"Someone's cocky today!" Cardin quipped, cockiness in his tone. "But alright, if you wanna lose faster!"

Cardin slowly started to approach Jaune, mace in hand. The bully swung his mace towards him but was surprised to see his opponent quickly sidestep the overhead attack and violently knee him in the stomach at tremendous speed, making him stumble backward. The sight put the entire audience in a state of surprise.

The six looked to Pyrrha for any sign that this was her teachings, to see her frozen with the look of shock plastered to her face. "Did you teach him this?" Blake asked, earning Pyrrha to quickly shake her head no.

"We haven't seen him do anything like this before," Ren stated, in as much shock as the others.

Since when could Jaune ever do _that?_ It was so unnatural for Jaune to casually kick the wind out of Cardin, especially after his former performances against him. Was he secretly practicing alone? He didn't even look that strong! Weiss was completely stumped by his sudden strength over Winchester.

Cardin recuperated himself from the unexpected attack and looked to his opponent, who still had that cocky grin on his lips. The grin angered Cardin, as he looked to Jaune and growled at his mockery. He began to lift his mace but was caught off-guard by a sudden slash by Jaune's sword at his chest. Cardin began to slowly back away on instinct as Jaune started to swing wildly at him, yet Cardin somehow couldn't block the attacks. Every time he predicted where his next attack was going to land, Jaune would attack the exact opposite place he'd predict! It was like he was reading his mind! The entire time, Jaune's grin was twisted into a wicked smile, while his eyes looked nothing but crazy. This was _not_ the usual local dork Weiss knew. 

The stick of Cardin's mace clashed with Jaune's sword, With Jaune pushing his free hand against his sharp blade trying to push it down further towards his startled opponent. The two were face to face as Weiss saw Jaune start to speak. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but it apparently frightened Cardin enough to get an opening for Jaune to sweep his legs out from under him and kick him across the stage, officially putting Cardin's aura in the red. She seemed to be the only one to notice that he even spoke, other than the second-year rabbit Faunus that stood just a few feet away that was assisting with Miss GoodWitch's class for the day. The assistant seemed to also be slightly frightened, giving Weiss the assumption that she heard what he said.

Jaune let out a raspy chuckle as his eyes shut and he started to fall, but he caught himself. Instead of him acting as nothing happened like before, he fell to his knees like he was out of breath.

He shakingly looked up slowly to see Cardin get up, and Miss Goodwitch stepped forward. "And...- And that's the match!" she announced. Even Goodwitch was slightly startled by Jaune's excellent performance. Cardin grumbled before turning around and walking off with a limp. Jaune quickly stood up. "Good work, Mr. Arc! How did you learn to do anything like that?" she asked curiously.

"I-It's a secret!" he answered swiftly, before quickly turning and leaving the stage. 

Yang and Weiss watched in awe as he quickly ran into the locker room. "How the hell..." Yang muttered.

"I... I don't know!" Weiss answered, completely stunned. She looked back to Yang with the same look of shock as she mentally saw a lightbulb light up above Yang's head. "I have a better idea for this bet..." the brawler started mischievously. "Whoever finds out how Jaune learned to do... _that_ _,_ gets 200 Lien from the other!" she proposed.

Weiss thought for a moment. She was extremely curious about how the slow-learning dunce that was Jaune Arc could learn such a strong and unpredictable fighting style even though it looks filled to the brim with flaws and redundancies that it would be mistaken for wildly swinging like a crazy drunkard. She had to know, and _Yang_ of all people to bet that she could find out something before her was the final straw to find out. 

"You have a deal, Xiao Long!" she proclaimed, as they both got up from their seats. Yang followed her team to leave the now-ended class but noticed Weiss leaving the other direction. "Where ya going?" Ruby asked.

"I need to talk to someone!" Weiss replied, heading in the direction of the assistant that volunteered today, Velvet Scarlatina.

* * *

The six approached the blond knight as he exited the locker room. Nora gave him the most joyously bone-crushing hug she'd ever given. "You did it! you won!" she exclaimed, ignoring Jaune's desperate pleas to let him breathe until she finally let go.

"Congrats!" Yang congratulated, pushing past the small crowd in front of her to be face to face. "How'd you learn to do something like that?" she started, her charismatic and flirtatious tone in her voice. "Mind if you teach me? Y'know, without Weiss around anywhere to see? Or hear?" she asked, making Jaune tense.

"S-Sorry Yang, can't." he denied, to her disappointment.

"Awe, can you at least tell me where you learned it? Because Pyrrha _definitely_ doesn't know," she asked again, hoping for him to reply with what she wanted.

"Can't. It's Secret!" he compromised frantically.

 _"Really?"_ she asked for confirmation. "Yep!" he quickly replied, before he turned and walked off. "I'll be in the dorm!" he announced, quickly leaving the room to leave Yang with her own thoughts. 

Ruby looked to her big sister with a look of question. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing," she said sternly, before quickly leaving as well.

She was not going to lose to Weiss...

Not again, anyway...

* * *

The heiress stormed through the hallways of Beacon, looking for the local rabbit Faunus of team CFVY. Whatever he said during the fight might be a clue. What he said was probably a fear tactic that was involved with his mysterious new fighting style. If she could just find out what he said, all she needed to do next would just be search it up on the DustWeb. It _must_ just be some easy to learn fighting style that he found from the DustWeb that looked cool, but when predicted, would fall out from under him. The information would be as easy as asking, and her answer sat just in front of her, sitting in the mess hall eating lunch with her team.

Weiss approached Velvet. "Good afternoon." she greeted, earning the four's attention.

"Oh, good afternoon to you too, I guess." she greeted back awkwardly.

"So, I was wondering if you could answer a question for me?" Weiss asked politely.

"Sure, I guess," she replied, to Weiss' delight.

"Oh good. You were the volunteer for Miss Goodwitch's class today, right?" she asked, earning a questioned nod from the bunny rabbit Faunus. "So I was wondering if you could tell me what Jaune said during his spar with Cardin?" she asked. Weiss noticed Velvet tense a little.

"O-Oh, yeah, that..." she started. "Are you sure? I don't know him that much, but... It doesn't really sound like what he'd usually say." Velvet stated.

"Yes, his behavior during the fight wasn't like his usual fighting stance, so I'm trying to find out what the fighting style is. Me and Yang have a bet on who would find out first." She stated matter-of-factly. Velvet sighed.

"Okay then..." she started, taking a deep breath to talk.

"'...H-How's your mother, Winchester... the Grimm say she tasted good...'" she quoted nervously.

"..."

"Excuse me?"

* * *

"What the hell was that!?" Jaune asked angrily.

Jaune sat on his bed as he loudly argued with Unknown. No one was in the room, so no one would hear him basically arguing with the voice in his head.

 **'You won. And it seems like you the fight wasn't the only thing you won...'** it growled.

"What are you talking about!?" Jaune questioned loudly.

During the fight, he felt himself blackout but opened his eyes immediately after, yet he couldn't control his body. He watched as his body moved on its own, and beat Cardin with flying colors. 

**'You got the attention of Schnee.'** it stated. Jaune went from an angry look to a curious one. "How?" he asked. **'My performance seemed to have grabbed the attention of the dragon and the False Arc...'** it snarled.

"Can you stop calling Weiss that? It makes no sense."

**'It's an... old habit...'**

Jaune paused for a moment. "...So, you controlling me and fighting Cardin _somehow_ got the attention of Weiss and Yang?" he began. "I can handle Weiss. But _Yang?_ Why Yang?"

 **'Take a _bet._ ' **it quipped.

All of this was bizarre. Like it wasn't before, but Unknown never could control him before, now it can? And with the attention of Yang and Weiss, it didn't help at all! Well, Weiss giving him the light of day was nice, but that's beside the point! He could barely handle having a demon inside his head. And now it could control him at any time. Apparently, he could feel Unknown's emotions too, which explains his outburst when they were stuck in the mess hall. He heard Unknown chuckle.

**'Here comes firecracker...'**

Jaune sighed as he heard a knock on the door. He stood up and opened the door to see Yang in front of him.

"Hey, man." she greeted calmly.

"Hey..." Jaune replied tiredly.

He was getting exhausted by this entire situation. Accepting Unknown's help to fight was the worst thing he could have done.

"You doing okay? We could hang out?" she asked genuinely. He knew from the start that Yang wanted something.

"No, Yang," she smirked at him knowingly.

"Jaune, buddy, pal. Come on, You can talk to me!" she stated.

"Yang, if I told you, you'd tell me I'm crazy." he denied.

"Well, crazy or not, talking about it is good. Ruby did this all the time when we were kids. Usually, it was about seeing monsters outside that didn't exist, but it worked to get her out of a bad mood." Would Unknown even allow this? The absence of its creepy and ominous warnings say yes, apparently. But he didn't take the chance. He'd rather not have his friends think he was mentally insane. 

"Yang, I've already said no." Jaune pressed. He was annoyed by the sight of her giving off another smug look.

"I'll buy you something? I can help you get a date with Weiss?" she proposed.

" **No.** " he snarled. His refusal gave Yang a look of confusion.

"Kay, fine. But if you ever wanna talk, I'll only be a knock away." he gave her a nod before he quickly shut the door, and she sighed defeatedly.

"I'm gonna lose to Weiss again, aren't I?" she muttered to herself.

* * *

It had been two days since the two teammates of Team RWBY made the bet that they would find out how Jaune learned such a strange fighting style, and both of them couldn't think of anything.

Yang couldn't think of anything that wouldn't step over the line of downright stalking him. Like he's ever going anywhere alone though, because he never does. He usually just tags along with his team when they go to Vale, and when he isn't in Vale with his team, he'd be hanging out with both the teams. Which only made her even more curious about how he even learned to fight that violently and wildly even when he's never been alone. She's asked Ruby to ask him, but to her surprise, he won't even tell his own best friend about his little secret. Weiss spoke to her at the end of the first day they made the bet and told her that Jaune said something that even Cardin himself wouldn't say. She didn't tell her what it was, but she assumed it was bad enough. After that day, Weiss looked to be studying him. He's been using his new fighting style ever since he used it in class. She didn't know Weiss' own plan, but she expected it to be thoughtfully and logically planned out. Something only her resident Ice queen would think of.

* * *

Weiss had a plan.

Weiss had a plan to find out exactly when he would train. So the first course of action was to study his schedule. The usual route he would take to get through his classes. Weiss would follow him over the course of the day in secret and write down his schedule in a notebook with the initials 'JA' on it. She wouldn't want him to figure out that she wanted to know about his suspicious new fighting style. Her entire plan was to pinpoint the time he would have time alone to train with his new style and she would win the bet! But him knowing would be throwing a wrench in her plans. After classes, she'd been able to get Jaune's entire school day schedule written down. The next step was to follow him after classes. Archive his every move. This boy would not leave her sight! 

What disappointed her was that he didn't do anything. Nothing even _close_ to training at all, minus his nightly training with Pyrrha! Well, there's always tomorrow.

Weiss sat on her bed, writing in her notebook about extra things on Jaune, like the activities he'd done today. She never knew Jaune ever went to the _gym_ of all places. What Weiss noticed was that he always looked... in a bad mood. Like he was constantly thinking about bad thoughts for the entire day. If Weiss were being honest, she missed the old Jaune that always had a skip in his step and an annoyingly goofy smile on his face. But now he always has the face of being in thought and has started flirting less with her. This suspicious behavior needs to be investigated and spoken about! And she was just on the investigation step. It was almost midnight, and Weiss was in a deep state of writing when a curious Ruby peeked her head down her bunk bed to peek at her notebook. 

"Watcha doin'?" Ruby asked, earning a small yelp and a jump from the heiress. Weiss quickly closed her notebook and looked to Ruby with an angered look.

"I am doing nothing of your concern!" she replied. Ruby pouted at the disappointing answer.

"Come oooooonnnnnn, Weiss! Is it your diary?" Weiss groaned at Ruby's assumption. She had been meaning to acquire a new notebook to use as a diary, but never got around to it.

"No, it's not!" she answered loudly.

Ruby hopped down from her bunk. "Well, I'm gonna take a walk," Ruby stated, walking over to the door.

"This late?" Blake asked.

"Yep!" Ruby replied before she left. Weiss sat there for a moment before a realization hit her.

Ruby might be training Jaune at night!

It didn't make a lot of sense, but it was the closest lead she had. She waited a few seconds after Ruby left, and quickly got up and followed her discreetly, ignoring Blake and Yang's questioning.

* * *

The cold outside helped him get it out of his head. The fountain just outside his dorm in a small garden was Jaune's new happy place, especially at night, where he could freely drench his face in its cold freezing waters. He stared at his reflection as the stars above him twinkled in the sky. It was quiet. Peaceful. It didn't do anything to get Unknown out of his head, but he liked to think it'd shut it up. He was slightly startled by the sound of light footsteps approaching, and something felt... off. Like whoever this was, he wanted to brutally decapitate them with every fiber of his being to get them away. Whoever it was, seemed to make him feel like they've ruined his life in the worst ways possible. He watched the corner where the sound came from with slight anger. He didn't know why he felt hatred as he listened as the footsteps got louder, he didn't even know who it was. Was it Cardin? Was it someone else?

It was... It was Ruby?

"Oh, hey Jaune." she greeted, approaching him with a smile. "Watcha doin' here?" she asked. His face twisted into a face of disgust and he didn't even know it.

"Nothing..." He snarled.

her smile melted as she gave him a look of concern. "Is something... wrong?" she asked nervously.

Jaune quickly shook his head. "No no no no, you didn't do anything. I'm sorry if that sounded rude... I didn't mean to sound like that..." he apologized, Ruby's warm smile returning.

"It's fine. I didn't expect you to be here of all places?" He could say the same for Ruby. With it being so late, he expected her to be knocked out dead in her bed asleep, yet here she was.

"I, uh... come here to clear my head. It's uhmm..." he sighed. "...It's hard, Ruby," he admitted, a sob threatening to sound by his voice cracking. He didn't even realize Unknown's absence.

"Yeah... I think classes are hard too," she replied. Of course she doesn't know what he's talking about. They never do. He stared at her reassuring smile and sighed once more. He has to tell her. Ruby is his best friend, and she'd be the most helpful in this situation without calling him outright crazy. He already thought about this before, but thought against it when she asked last time. Now, he finally made up his mind.

"Ruby, I have to tell you something." he started hesitantly, her unaware smile unhelpful.

"What is it?" she asked.

"So... remember how you went on that you saw something in the fog a few days ago...?"

"Yeah. I still stick to what I saw," she responded.

"Well, what you saw was what attacked me... and now it's in my head." he finally blurted out. 

Her reaction was exactly what he wanted, which was confusion at first, but he was relieved to find her light up with excitement. "I was right! Ooohhhhhhh, I was right!" she cheered loudly, earning a shush from Jaune. "So, that's why you always look stressed?" she asked, a nod coming from the knight. "Okay, so what's wrong?" Ruby asked. A wave of relief washed over him knowing his best friend didn't call him crazy and instead wants to help.

"I've been... getting nightmares. They always end with-..." he hesitated. "...They always end with Weiss being killed. I can hear it in my head, Ruby. It always laughs at me when I wake up... I want it to _stop._ " he pleaded quietly. Ruby put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. Can you describe it?" 

"It's made of fog," he responded. "Its name is Unknown," he spoke, more confident than before. "It acts like a sociopathic cereal-killer," he described. "And I can feel its emotions... which might explain why when I heard you coming, I wanted to kill you on the spot." His words seemed to put her at a loss for words. Was it of fear? "...But It doesn't make any sense. It hates you like a Beowolf hates humans, but you haven't done anything to it!" he exclaimed crazily.

"It's okay! I'll help you. I'm glad you came to me instead of someone else, or else they would've called you insane." she consoled.

" **F̷o̴u̸r̷t̶e̸e̵n̴ ̶y̶e̵a̸r̵s̷ ̷a̸n̷d̸ ̷a̶n̴o̵t̴h̵e̶r̴ ̶w̶o̷r̵l̷d̷,̴ ̵a̴n̸d̴ ̴y̵o̷u̴'̸r̵e̵ ̴s̴t̷i̷l̸l̵ ̴a̸ ̵p̸e̴s̴t̶.̷"**

He recoiled backward as he felt a sudden blunt pain come from his head. Ruby tried to help him, but his arm pushed forward, violently pushing her away. He felt his consciousness slowly start to slip away as he heard Ruby fall onto her back with a thud, but she still got right back up and hugged him tightly. His drowsiness slipped away as his mind finally caught up with Ruby's embrace. He heard the sound of a monstrous growl grow silent as he returned the hug. "What was that!?" she asked, startled by his sudden aggressiveness. "It was him, and for some reason, He _really_ hates you..."

Ruby looked away in thought before she looked back at him with a confident smirk. "Then I guess he'll have to come out and kill me!" she stated cockily. Her cheery attitude in even the worst scenarios seemed to always paint a smile on his face.

* * *

Well, that was shocking

It seems that her sister team's ignorance of their team leader's mental health went farther than she thought, to the point where he's waking up at night because of nightmares of her and has a voice inside his head. Was she the cause of this? It made her think. Maybe her harsh rejections were the cause of his nightmares? Weiss sat in her bed pondering this. She had heard everything the two leaders spoke about, and she noticed how distressed he seemed while talking about the nightmares. After Jaune's aggressive behavior towards Ruby, they talked for a while. He described the things that this 'Unknown' teased him about in his head. Apparently, it would claim that it could read Weiss' mind, and claimed that Weiss would be thinking about him 24/7. Which _technically_ was true, but not in an emotional sense. She was simply just studying his behavior from a discreet distance without his knowledge. 

While she listened, they eventually moved to the topic of describing the nightmares he was having about her, along with the conversations he would have with this mysterious voice. Most of these descriptions peeked her concern. One nightmare he had was that they were dating, but he found her hanging from Gambol Shroud's rope in his team's dorm; bloodied and mutilated. Another nightmare ended with him finding a broken mirror and her corpse on the floor, with shards of it lodged in her throat. She knew that no matter who was having them, these nightmares shouldn't be experienced. They were so brutal that he had to stop when Ruby almost puked. She pitied the man but didn't know what to do. She sat in her bed pondering the thought before she made her decision.

Weiss Schnee would swallow her pride and help Jaune out.

She didn't want to, but she knew that she was the only one to stop them, and if she didn't do anything, he'd eventually go mad. In which she thought he already did.

* * *

"I am growing impatient."

"Patience is a virtue, my friend."

"This vessel is nothing but a young boy with a trivial crush."

"In which you will use to your advantage."

"He is weak! Puny!"

"And he will grow into the killing machine that we knew before."

"He is nothing compared to him! His hatred for the False Arc and her friends was the driving point of his strength! A strength Miss Lucifer took advantage of!"

"Miss Lucifer is a respected figure, even with being the daughter of a fool."

"The Arc has notified miss Rose of my existence."

"...The brat..."

"And the false Arc has learned as well, but without the knowledge of the Arc."

"Have you gained enough power for your physical form?"

"Entering this blasted dimension took 14 years. The negativity needed to regain my form again would kill the queen herself."

"Then I expect that you gain that power."

"Will the queen be a disturbance to our plans?"

"Her plans for the Academy will not be my concern unless you fail me. If that happens, the Doctor has already prepared an alternative that even her pawns do not know of. If you fail me, they will simply have to deal with him."

"I will not fail."

"That is what Omega said, and look what happened to him?"

"That was because he did not have your assistance."

"And neither do you." 

"Your assistance won't even be needed."

"complete the plan, my beast. release me from this prison, and you will be rewarded with a Calivar-named chew toy."

"As you wish, master."


	3. Fairy tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even fairy tales could help Jaune's problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyy, this got more popular than I expected, so I thank you for that.

Weiss continued to monitor Jaune from the shadows, noting down any different kind of behavior from the day before, which was every time. It was about a week after she started watching Jaune, and every day would be different, yet none ended with him doing anything related to training. Every day would end with Jaune not doing what she wanted to the point where she eventually just found following him around all day as an activity more than a chore. Sometimes even forgetting about why she was watching him in the first place. She hasn't confronted him about his mental problem, because she was making a plan for that as well, and it was about to go to fruition. 

Weiss approached Team JNPR's dorm and lightly knocked. She waited until just the right person opened the door. He looked paranoid like he expected a monster to jump out from the corner at any second as he hid behind the door.

"Oh, h-hey Weiss." he greeted nervously.

"Hi, could you come with me?" Weiss asked. Jaune sighed before opening the door fully and stepping out.

"Why?" he asked curiously.

"Well, I heard what you spoke about with Ruby a week ago. I'm sorry." she began. "So I... I want to help you," she spoke, kindness in her words, which was rare for the ice queen.

"You? Want to help... me?" asked a confused Jaune.

"Yes, so for my first course of action, I have a friend that might be able to help." and with that, she walked off, and a confused and surprised Jaune followed.

* * *

The two stopped at the door to a usual Beacon student dorm. Weiss knocked, and a brunette with a large ponytail answered the door.

"Good afternoon, _Schnee._ " the girl growled. the two glared at each other venomously until the girl yelled out behind her. "Ellie, your little 'friend' and her boyfriend is here!" she moved out of the way and gestured for them to come in. The two entered, but not without Weiss giving the girl a deadly stare that could kill along the way.

They were met with a girl with flowing black hair sat on a bed inside the dorm, waiting excitedly. "I thought you would never get here!" she started. "Hell, I bet you couldn't even get yourself to ask him to come!" Her teasing earned an impatient eye-roll from the ice queen. "So, this the man you called crazy?" she inquired innocently. Jaune gave her an angered look before Weiss quickly intervened.

"I-I never said that!" her words seemed to put him more at ease, especially when they were coming from Weiss of all people. "Can you please just do your part of the deal?" Weiss pleaded, and the girl nodded.

"Fine. First, my name is Ellie. the girl that hates Weiss is Ella. We are _not_ related." she specified. This entire scene Jaune was in confused him.

"Hold on, why I am here?" he asked.

"Well, Weiss overheard what you talked about a week ago, and she wants to help. So she came to me for my semblance," she explained as she stood up from the bed. "I can read minds!" she exclaimed proudly.

Jaune froze.

This was not going to help him. He wanted Unknown _out_ of his head, not spread into different people using aura. He didn't know what Unknown could do, so for all he knew, she could die on the spot the second she'd touch him. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know how to get Unknown out of his head at all! And going to a professional about it would certainly end him dissected in a lab, so he was stuck! This realization scared him, and Unknown laughing about it definitely didn't help.

Jaune slowly started to back away from the girl. "A-Actually, I think I need to go-" he was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming shut.

he turned around to see Ella standing in front of the door impatiently. "Schnee owes me for this as well. You aren't leaving," she stated.

Jaune went into full panic mode as Ellie started approaching him. Weiss wasn't helpful at all, standing there blankly as she watched a girl he's never seen before probe his mind.

"It's not gonna hurt, man! Just stay still!" she demanded, trying to grab him as he frantically dodged and blocked her attempts to touch his head.

He stumbled backward as chains wrapped around him, and he felt some emotion he couldn't describe start to approach as he looked down at the chains around him. He sat against the wall as the three girls stood over him menacingly as a new person stood behind them. he looked around to see a sword with a rapier guard laid next to him with chains coming from it, the grip of said-sword was in the hands of a man that stood in the doorway, and the grip was connected with the sword by the chain that was wrapped around him.

He struggled as Ellie slowly kneeled to his level. "Don't worry, it will only take a minute," she stated, finally placing her hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes as if she was in deep sleep, but still kept her position.

* * *

They waited expectantly for Ellie to come out of his head. it had been almost 3 minutes and still nothing. Jaune sat there with lifeless eyes, muttering nonsensical things like 'fairytale' and 'Butterfly' while Ellie would let out a whimper every few seconds. 

Weiss looked to Ella, who looked more worried than she was. "Is it usually this long?" she asked.

"No. The scared whimpers aren't part of it either..." the man behind them holding the chains pushed forward.

"Alright, well I don't think the chains are needed anymore." He said, kneeling next to Ellie.

"I have to thank you for your help. Rex, was it?"

"Yeah." the man responded, reaching to the chains wrapped around Jaune, but was stopped when Jaune's lifeless eyes shot towards him as he grabbed his wrist to stop him.

**"Calivar."** Jaune snarled angrily.

Their concern of the sudden aggressiveness was distracted by Ellie's hand violently shooting off from his shoulder like she just touched fire, and she screamed as she crawled backward in terror until she hit the wall behind her. Ellie mumbled fearfully into her knees as tears strung down her face. Weiss and Ella immediately came to her side, but Rex took back his wrist and quickly stood up and backed away, but kept his eyes onto Jaune, who now had a grin crept to his face and his eyes were glued to him.

"You have no idea what kind of hell is coming, Calivar..."

Jaune's ominous growl struck fear into him as Jaune looked to have fallen unconscious, falling to his side as his eyes closed.

"What the hell was that!?" Ella yelled angrily. "Ellie! Elizabeth!" she yelled, shaking the scarred girl

"T-That's not Jaune!" Ellie finally blurted, pointing to the unconscious man frantically. She looked deathly afraid of him. How could anyone be afraid of _Jaune?_ It was impossible, which is exactly why this needed more attention.

"Can we stay in your dorm for a while? Until he wakes up?" Weiss asked. A hint of desperation in her tone. Rex swiftly nodded before Ella opened the door and left, leaving Rex to pick up Ellie and haul her over his shoulder, which cheered her up a bit. The door closed, leaving both Jaune and Weiss alone.

"Now... how to get you onto the bed..." she whispered to herself.

* * *

Jaune woke up in the dream world, but Unknown wasn't there. It was completely barren. No special tricks, no nightmare. 

Empty.

All empty, except a single wooden door a few meters away to the side of him. He could hear Unknown speaking, but could also hear a trace of a female voice. Jaune quietly got up and slowly approached the door, before placing his ear against it to listen.

"...This world has been locked from all devices. It seems that the Calivar has locked all worlds from travel that hasn't been tampered with." the woman spoke. She sounded sophisticated and formal like someone Weiss would know from Atlas. How was Unknown talking to someone in his mind? 

"NO! T-That's impossible!" Unknown began angrily "I can break the spell! I did it before, I can do it again!"

"You seem to misunderstand..." the woman started. "...You and your master will **_never_** be released. Your desperation for revenge over the Calivar and the Rose will not be sought through. The two imbeciles have already procreated, do you understand, beast!? Do you understand how frustrating it is to have to deal with two fourteen-year-olds with silver eyes AND Calivar power!? Not to mention the Calivar being ten thousand times as powerful than when he banished you two to the void realm!" her rant was cut short by Unknown interrupting

"And you think you have the power to kill him!? Y-You're insane!" Unknown yelled.

"Oh? And when you were captured by the Calivar's younger double and the Butterfly, you thought you could best the _older_ one?! I am the puppetmaster now. _**ME!**_ You and your pathetic master were bested due to his impatient demeanor, while **_I_** took advantage of your ruckus and made their most trusted friend hate them with a passion!" her rant finally ended, leaving Unknown's infuriated breathing as the only sound left to be heard.

"...Now if you'll excuse me, my daughter's training session is about to begin," she stated.

"You are a disgrace to call yourself a Lucifer!" Unknown spat venomously

"...And by the way, It's Arc-Lucifer now... I know you won't forget it..." 

Unknown let out an infuriated roar like the sound of a table being violently thrown was heard, and the woman let out an amused giggle.

"...No matter how much time goes by, you still always act like an insolent child... Goodbye, Unknown."

It went silent, and Jaune was left completely stunned. Who was this woman? What kind of... _war_ is going on beyond Remnant? He hated being left out of the loop, especially when there are apparently multiple universes with different versions of everyone at stake. His train of thought was stopped as the door in front of him broke into small pieces as Unknown stood angrily in front of him. There was no room behind the door, giving the illusion that there was just a door standing out in the middle of nowhere.

**"How much did you h̷e̶a̷r̸?̸"**

"I-I just got here!" Jaune lied frantically, backing away in fear as its limbs twitched aggressively.

**"L̶̬̈́Ĭ̷̼͇͝A̷̝̍̌R̷͚̆͂!̷͇͌̐"** it screamed, shaking the dream world they were in violently. An arm revealed itself out from Unknown's back and grabbed him, holding him into the air.

**"G̵e̴t̴ ̶r̷e̷a̵d̷y̴ ̵f̵o̴r̸ ̶t̵h̵e̴ ̴w̷o̷r̸s̵t̸ ̴n̷i̵g̷h̵t̷m̸a̶r̷e̸ ̸o̵f̷ ̷y̷o̶u̶r̸ ̵p̵u̸n̷y̸,̶ ̶i̷n̴s̵i̶g̷n̵i̴f̶i̷c̷a̴n̸t̵ ̴l̷i̴f̷e̷,̴ ̸A̷r̵c̸.̸"**

* * *

Okay, maybe she had asuspicion that he was completely insane, but that was obviously debunked the second Ellie came out of his mind like she just saw a glimpse of what the inside of a Grimm pool looks like. She looked utterly terrified. Maybe she saw one of the nightmares about her? It didn't matter, because Jaune's muscles tensing and his scared twitching and whimpering suggests he was going through one right now. This entity in his head needed attention, so she would have to contact Professor Ozpin to get professional assistance. That way the problem of a magical being inside Jaune's head would be out of her hands and into the hands of people that can actually do something. 

"Jaune, wake up," Weiss spoke, shaking his shoulder for a response, but all she got was a quiet scared murmur. She shook him again, being given the same thing again. "Wake up!" she demanded, shaking him more aggressively until his eyes finally opened, but he looked mortified. Was he scared of her? "Can we leave? You've been asleep for an hour now and Ella's getting annoyed," Jaune leaned back into the bed, trying to find a reason why Weiss would be worried about him so much that she stayed with him for an hour.

"Y-... Y-Yeah," he responded.

"Great. We're going to speak to Professor Ozpin," she stated, startling him.

Jaune left the bed and the two were already on their way out of the room. "Wait, w-why?" he asked, worried about her intentions as the two entered the hallway. "I-I don't see a reason why we should be going to Professor Ozpin's office right no-" his fearful denial was interrupted

"Jaune Arc, your mind has seemed to put a girl in a state of fear-stricken shock, you are having nightmares of me dying over and over, and you claim to have an evil voice inside your head, and you don't see a reason as to go see the headmaster?" her rhetorical question seemed to freeze him in place.

"O-Okay, yeah, but this isn't something Professor Ozpin can deal with! T-This is something that he can't fix! And if he does find out, he'll probably... d-dissect my brain or something!"

"Enough!" she yelled. "We are going to Ozpin's office, and we are telling him about your problem. If you won't tell him, _I will._ " and with that, she walked away. Leaving him in the hallway with his own thoughts.

* * *

Jaune had an idea but didn't know if it was worth doing. It was either do something or have Weiss tell Professor Ozpin about Unknown and risk having his mind probed, and that was a pretty big risk. His idea was a pretty drastic one, so doing research on Unknown would tell him if it was worth doing. But how was he going to do research on Unknown? Well, he heard every word Unknown spoke while basically torturing Ellie in his mind, and he scared her with a fairy tale. The fairy tale might be from Remnant, and who's the best woman for information about books?

None other than Blake Belladonna, of course.

Jaune didn't know Blake that much, but reading was something she was overly-obvious about, so Blake would be the perfect person to see if there was a book on a story about Unknown. He'd just describe the story and hope it was an actual fairy tale that she knew about. Jaune entered the library, a worried jog in his step. he searched for the third member of Team RWBY until he finally found her just about to leave. He hid his worried expression behind a smile as he approached her.

"Hey, Blake." Jaune started, getting the attention of Blake.

"Oh, hey," she responded.

"There was a specific fairy tale or folklore story that I heard, and I came to ask if you know anything about it." his question for her help earned a curious look from her. "...I'll get you a tuna sandwich from the cafeteria?"

his deal intrigued her. "Sure," she answered, to his relief. "Describe the story," she asked, and Jaune quickly complied.

"...It... It tells the story of how a man was cloned against his will, but the clone was horribly wrong, being made of fog and mist, and had the power to enter people's minds. The monster escaped, and it states that it dwells within the thickest fog known to man." he described the story nervously. 

"...Well, there is one." 

Fireworks erupted in his brain. She knew! The story was real!

"But it's very dark. I have read it before, and what you described was just the first part of it. We can sit down if you want me to tell you more about it?" "Yes!" he responded.

The two approached a table and sat down. Getting comfortable, she finally started. "I read it online because there's only a very limited supply of books of it, but it tells the story of a monster that controls a large cloud of fog. He would drive it over villages, where he would brutally kill any lifeform that he could find that would be unlucky enough to find themselves in the fog. He would get stronger by the fear of others until it found a little girl. The little girl was the daughter of a wizard, and when the monster reached them, the girl was the only one left. Seconds before it tried to kill the little girl, her father put a spell on her that would prevent it from killing her, but trapped her in the fog with it. The little girl lost any fear of the beast afterward, forcing the monster to share it's twisted home with the little girl to the ends of time."

He was left stunned, yet he still had questions. "W-Was there an end to it where it was banished into... a void realm?" he asked sheepishly.

"The story originated from folklore, but there weren't any records of an end like that." 

"Did it have a master!?" he asked desperately, which startled Blake a little.

"No, I don't believe so."

"Let's say this... _monster_ puts itself into your mind. What happens to you?"

"You, and everyone around you, will be eaten alive."

"...oh."

Blake sat up from her chair.

"I have to go. I hope you found it useful,"

she said, walking off and leaving the library, leaving the pitiful man to sit there in despair. He hoped it wasn't going to be true, but hope doesn't save lives. He sunk into his chair, already thinking about how he was going to go through with his last resort. He wasn't going to tell anybody outright. It pained him when the opportunity was perfect when everyone said they were going to Vale for a big happy shopping trip. He'd hate to ruin their happiness when they'd return afterward. How would Pyrrha react? How would _Ruby_ react? It scared him what Ruby would do. This stupid monster in his head screwed up his entire life in an instant. Of course he was the one to get a magical creature stuck in his head. Wasn't he just sooo lucky? Couldn't be anyone else but him! No matter how many times he screamed to the gods, they didn't answer. His friend's lives were worth more than their few hours of grief for him.

So he had to go.

* * *

Ruby was excited about the trip to Vale. It would be a big trip for everyone to be happy and get along, and to buy things with Weiss' money! The trip was perfect! First, they would go get breakfast at a cafe, and then they would go shopping in the shopping district of Vale, and then get lunch. She couldn't wait for it! It was all planned out, and everyone was coming! Well, except for Jaune, he had to do something, so it was _almost_ perfect. Weiss was finally able to pull herself away from her notebook she got a week ago to say she was coming as well. Ever since the day she got her notebook, she's been leaving after classes to 'do something' and then come back in the evening! And even then, she'd be completely glued to her notebook. Every time Ruby would try and see what she was writing, she would protect it like it was her child! She wanted Weiss to get some time away from her book, and that time was now apparently.

Ruby sat on her bed kicking her feet into the air in boredom. Blake left for the library, Yang went to train, and Weiss was dealing with something she wouldn't talk about, which only left her to sit in absolute boredom. She scanned the room for anything to do. Train with Crescent Rose? Naw, she did that an hour ago. Play with Myrtenaster? Nope. She didn't want a repeat of _last_ time. It took a week for them to clean up all the ice. She looked around some more and found nothing. Ruby sat up and looked over the room again, and noticed a small black booklet with the initials 'JA' on it. 

Jackpot!

This was the book Weiss was always attached to! And it was there, all alone, just _begging_ for Ruby to read it. The temptation was deadly. Yes! No! Yes! Read it! Weiss was her best friend, she didn't want to snoop around in her things without her permission! But, every time she saw her, she would be writing in it, completely ignoring her! This little book was a friendship ruiner! So Ruby could at least know what was in the book to know why it needed Weiss' utmost attention. And besides, they're besties? What's so wrong with knowing each other's secrets? That's what best friends are for! 

Ruby jumped off her bed and grabbed the book from the table. Ruby finally opened it to the first page, eagerly wanting to know what Weiss was writing about.

The first page was about an entire plan of finding out how Jaune learned his new fighting style. Ruby was curious too, but not as much as Weiss and Yang, because it wrote about how the two have a bet on who would find out first. But Weiss' plan was to basically stalk him until she caught him training. The thing about it was that Weiss didn't even know she was doing such a thing! She guessed being in solitude her entire life without human contact would do that. Ruby flipped to the next page, and as expected, Weiss had written down Jaune's entire class schedule for the entire week. flipping to the next page, it showed multiple notes and logs Weiss had taken while watching Jaune in secret. Ruby flipped through a few pages once she realized the next pages were the same and noticed something. On the first page, Weiss would only write down important things, like schedules and important notes, but the more and more into the book she got, the more and more _crazy_ she sounded.

It went from straight to the point things about Jaune's behavior and constantly complaining about the bet, to completely forgetting about the bet and her original goal and constantly complimenting him in crazy scribbles! This was insanity! Ruby read and read until she heard the door open. She looked up to see who it was, and it was the worst person that could walk into her reading Weiss' Jaune book.

"Ruby?!"

"Hiiiiiii..." Ruby squeaked nervously. 

Weiss stormed over and snatched the notebook from her hands. "Why do you have this!? D-Did you read it!?" the heiress asked angrily.

"Weiss, we need to talk," Ruby stated, her tone serious, which was rare for the red reaper. "I want you to explain what this is." Weiss stood there with an icy glare before speaking

"Me and Yang have a bet on who could figure out how Jaune learned his new fighting style first, and it seems to me that Yang doesn't even have a plan. _I_ _,_ on the other hand, have already archived his entire class schedule for the week to find out when he has the time to train."

Ruby's eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. The girl really was trying to pass off stalking Jaune as a simple bet, but Ruby knew why she _really_ does it. "Weiss, do you know what you're doing?" Ruby asked, earning a quick response from the heiress.

"I'm simply observing his behavior in secret to discover when he has time to train his skills," she answered matter-of-factly

"Weiss, that's just a fancy way of saying that you're stalking Jaune!" she finally yelled out.

"No! Stalking has an emotional attachment to it. I do not have anything emotional towards him," she stated. Ruby's eye twitched.

"Weiss, one of your notes on your latest page says, and I quote, 'I tried to hide in his closet to see if he would do anything, but he didn't. I took one of his shirts for "examination."'." Ruby quoted, waiting for Weiss' excuses.

"And I did, so what?"

"What new 'information' are you going to gain from one of Jaune's shirt?" 

"C-Classified." she stuttered.

"Have you even returned the shirt?"

"Not yet, but I plan on doing so!"

"When did you take it?"

"...yesterday."

Ruby stood there, baffled by Weiss' behavior. The heiress already seemed to have run out of excuses by the single question.

"Weiss, do you know what this means?" Ruby asked, a hint of excitement in her voice, which scared Weiss.

"...No?" she replied, watching as a big, joyous smile crept onto Ruby's face.

"You love him!" she exclaimed, giving Weiss a big, bone-crushing hug.

"Ruby!" Weiss squeaked, and Ruby let go of her. Weiss took a breather before finally returning to the conversation. "T-That's impossible. There is nothing about him that I am attracted to," she stated, getting fidgety.

"I can list off twenty things that you describe, in _great_ detail, about him you are violently attracted to."

"Name one!" Weiss dared dangerously.

Ruby grinned devilishly as she cleared her throat. "'I saw him coming out of the gym showers without a shirt. I never knew Pyrrha's training could turn him into _that._ By the gods, I'm feeling hot-'" "Shut up!" Weiss frantically interrupted. A flush of crimson on her cheeks.

"Alright, fine! He's kinda... _hot._ But any girl would find him attractive! And he's obviously showing affection for me only because of my name!-" Weiss froze in place when she heard Ruby clear her throat again.

"'He talked to Ren about how much he loves me. Thank god it's safe to say he doesn't want my money, or else he wouldn't be asking for love advice knowing I was present. If I stay any longer I won't be able to resist the urge to throw myself at him.-'"

"What did I say!" Weiss yelled, failing at wiping the evil smug grin from Ruby's face.

"You need to talk to him! Please? For me?" Ruby pleaded, giving her the usual puppy-dog eyes. No one could resist the puppy-dog eyes! Not even the ice queen!

"Ruby Rose, you are _evil,"_ Weiss muttered defeatedly. "Fine! After the trip to Vale tomorrow, I'll talk to him." She finished, and Ruby let out an excited squeal before hugging her again. Weiss grumbled, but eventually hesitantly hugged her back. 

_'Ugh, how did this happen...'_

**'Me.'**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the true White knight chapter! What's happening behind the curtain of the show? I used the mind-reading scene as a way to introduce an OC team that will obviously play a bigger role at some point, but right now they aren't needed, so put away your torches and pitchforks expecting this fanfiction to be turned into an OC fanfiction, which it won't. They'll serve their time in the story, which won't be a lot.


	4. Gone away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you never get to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (late) new years, folks.

"Jaune's not coming?"

Team RWBY and NPR approached the bullhead scheduled to head to Vale. Weiss hasn't seen Jaune since she told him she was going to tell Professor Ozpin about his problem, which she still will, It's just on an emotional level now. The others say they haven't seen him a lot either, other than Blake, who talked to him about a specific fairy tale he was looking for. But after that, they barely saw him.

"Yeah. He said he had to study." Ruby confirmed, completely fine with her fellow team leader's suspicious behavior, since he never studies willingly, but maybe this was the time he started. Maybe she could help him? That could be nice? It always felt a little lonely when she studied. Well, it was too late now because by the time she came out of her thoughts the door to the bullhead closed, and they were now on their way to Vale. "Don't worry Weiss, I promise to get you two together next time," Ruby whispered, earning an eye roll from the heiress. She would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly disappointed. 

"Well, I guess we'll buy him something," Yang said. "What does he like?" she asked, looking to the blond's team.

Nora put her finger to her chin in thought. "Hmm..." she pondered. "...Maybe an upgrade for his sword!" she finally exclaimed excitedly. 

"Do you have his weapon's blueprints?" Weiss asked.

The three members of Team JNPR looked at each other before Pyrrha responded. "I'm afraid not," she stated.

They went back to thinking. The seconds turned into minutes before the doors to the bullhead finally opened. The seven poured out from the bullhead. Did they all not know what Jaune likes? What he takes interest in? That's... concerning. An idea came to Weiss' mind. If the others couldn't find out what to get him, then her idea would certainly out-class anything they could get for him!

With her new plan in motion, she turned to her best friend. "Ruby, I have an idea," Weiss stated. Before Ruby could respond, her hand was grabbed and the two quickly exited the bullhead platform and onto the streets before the others could even notice. 

"Weiss! Slow down!" Ruby cried. Weiss finally slowed but was still looking around, looking for a specific shop. "What did you need me for?" she asked.

"You know Vale more than I do, right?" Weiss asked. Ruby nodded in response. "Okay..." Weiss started to whisper into Ruby's ear. Whatever she was saying seemed to excite the girl.

"I saw one a few weeks ago. It should be... there!" Ruby pointed outward at a shop, and the two quickly rushed across the street and approached it. The shop was a lovely flower shop, with all kinds of flowers and flora covering the front. Weiss quickly entered, leaving Ruby behind.

A minute later, Weiss finally exited the shop, with a single white flower in hand. "Small, simple, cute. I like it. I bet he would too." Ruby smiled brightly and nodded, and the duo went back to the group. The five were looking around until Nora spotted them.

Realizing the consequences if she told the others about her little crush on Jaune, she hid the flower behind her back as everyone approached them. "There you are! We were looking everywhere!" Yang spoke. 

"I- I had to use the restroom!" Weiss improvised, a fake smile over her worried look. Yang seemed to have taken the act. 

"Okay, we're going for some breakfast now. You ready?" Yang asked. Weiss and Ruby both nodded before the group officially started their big day in Vale.

* * *

The forest smelt like death.

 _everything_ smells like death now.

Jaune stood at the edge of Beacon's grounds. He stared into The Emerald forest as the sunset behind it shined brightly. His friends had left for Vale this morning. He had Crocea Mors, Food, Water, and all the equipment needed to live in the wilderness. 

**'The only thing you'll be protecting is me.'**

_'Shut up.'_

**'I can't wait for little red to try to find you. Emphasis on _try_.'**

_'Shut up!'_

**'Belladonna and Branwen won't even care.'**

_'That's enough.'_

**'And Schnee...'**

**'She couldn't care _less._ '**

"Stop!"

His yell echoed across the area. He could only hear crickets and the trees in front of him swaying with the wind

"Jaune?"

His eye twitched.

Jaune turned around to see none other than the three that tried to 'help' him yesterday standing in front of him. Ellie hid behind Ella in fear, while Rex stood forward. "Hey, man... we saw you coming here. What're you doing?" Rex asked cautiously. 

"I'm leaving," Jaune responded bluntly.

Rex and Ellie looked at each other before they looked back. "Does your team know...?"

"Not yet. They will," he replied.

"Jaune, We can't let you do this." Ella started. "Your team needs you."

Jaune glared at the two, an angered twitch in his eye. "And what are you going to do to stop me?" He asked, slowly reaching for his Sword and Shield.

"I don't want to fight you." 

Jaune stared into his eyes. The wind shook the trees and grass around them as dark clouds covered the sky, covering the light of the sun. Jaune's stone-cold expression faded into a pained scrunch. His eyes opened once more, yet the light that once shimmered in his eyes was gone, leaving nothing. The boy grinned brightly, confusing the three.

**"I do."**

* * *

"Huh... Jaune isn't answering his scroll."

The seven had finished their trip and were heading towards the bullhead docks. The sun looked like it would set any minute. The day flew by like what felt like minutes, and Ruby was trying to call Jaune to tell him they were coming back, but he wouldn't answer. That's when the group started to worry. "We should hurry," Ren noted.

"Maybe he fell asleep?" Nora proposed.

They entered the bullhead before the doors shut, and the bullhead took off. Their worry was dimmed by Nora's idea of him just falling asleep, but it was still there. Weiss worked hard to keep the flower she bought for Jaune safe and hidden from her team, having Ruby distract them while she tries to hide it without damaging it. Weiss was relieved that she successfully hid it from them, Now all she was worried about was Jaune himself. 

They waited for the ride to arrive at Beacon until the doors finally opened, and they left the bullhead and headed to their dorm. The sky above was grey and shrouded in blackened clouds as rain started to slowly fall down. They got inside the building and went to their dorms. When they got there, the door to Team RWBY's room was slightly open. Ruby opened the door and they all entered the room. Nothing was unusual, their things were still there and nothing was stolen, but Ruby noticed a folded piece of paper on the desk next to the door. She picked it up and opened it and started to read whatever was on the note.

"...Oh my gods..." 

Ruby's saddened squeak and horrified expression worried Weiss. "What? What is it?" Weiss asked. Ruby flipped the note to face her.

"...He's gone."

Weiss read the note. 

_Dear friends,_

_I'm sorry, but there's something I have to do. I don't know how long I'll be gone, or if I even come back at all. I plan to distance myself from Vale in the wild, and I can't leave without saying goodbye. I know you guys would search the entirety of Remnant for me, but I beg for you not to. It'll only end up with you getting killed. I don't know if this will even work, but I want to give the leadership of the team to Pyrrha. She is a way better leader than I was. Thank you for not giving up on me Pyr. You're the one that gave me the skill and strength to survive. Try to keep Ruby from searching for me? She wouldn't sleep if she did, which I appreciate, but he'll want to kill her the most. Ren and Nora have always been like siblings, and I don't want them to be upset about me. And I don't want them and the others to think I left because of them, which isn't true. Especially Weiss. I don't know if she even cares about me leaving, but thanks for trying to help me. It didn't do much, and now that I think about it, the only thing it did was scar a girl's mind, but thanks anyway. I have no clue why you even helped me in the first place after constantly annoying you without taking the hint, but I guess I was blinded by how hard I was crushing on you to realize it. You're amazing. Everything about you made me head over heels for you. You're smart, and pretty, and graceful, and don't even get me started on your voice. You're just... you're just perfect to me. You don't do it much, but when you smile, my heart feels like it's about to pop. I love everything about you. I hate to have to say all this in a note instead of saying it to you myself, but I can't... And deep down I had a feeling that it was never meant to be._

Everyone stood there in place, processing the situation. It was dead silent. No one could see Weiss's face, since it was behind the note, but everyone's attention was caught by what felt like the loudest thing the heiress had ever heard at that moment.

The sound of the white flower hitting the floor softly.

The moment was interrupted by the intercom turning on.

**"Team RWBY and Team JNPR, please report to the infirmary."**

The two teams looked at each other frantically. "That's Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed. With the blink of an eye, everyone ran out of the room in a panic, all except Weiss, who stood in place, staring at the runaway/confession note Jaune had left for her with teary eyes.

"Weiss! Let's go!" Ruby yelled. Without saying a word, Weiss snapped out of her saddened state and wiped the tears from her eyes, and quickly ran out of the room with them.

The flower died on the floor.

* * *

The run towards the infirmary felt longer than usual.

The group finally arrived at the infirmary. They rushed through the infirmary until they found Miss Goodwitch standing outside an emergency room. The seven approached the teacher. "We were called?" Ruby asked, worry in her question.

"Yes, please come in," she answered. Without hesitation, they barged in. They were terrified of what kind of injuries Jaune had taken to land himself into the critical emergency wing. Was it a Nevermore? A Beowolf?

"Wait... W-where's Jaune?"

Jaune wasn't in any of the medical beds. Instead, it was Rex, Ellie, and Ella all in critical condition. "...Mr. Arc is currently wanted for putting three Beacon Academy students in critical condition. They would've died if it weren't for Mr. Calivar's sister." Miss Goodwitch started. They looked around confusedly until they noticed a girl with long dark purple hair sitting in a waiting chair in the room. She looked beyond infuriated. "If she didn't arrive, it would have been too late for medical support to arrive. They suffered multiple stab wounds, blunt trauma, and lacerations across their bodies."

The group was left completely speechless. Jaune can't do this! "B-But Rex is one of the best fighters I know!" Pyrrha argued. "There is no way Jaune did this!" 

"...The footage speaks otherwise."

Miss Goodwitch clicked at her large scroll a few times and held it out for them to see. They watched the video of Jaune effortlessly stabbing them down one by one, sometimes even fighting all three of them at once. The video ended with the three laying bloodied on the ground, and a purple blinding light erupted, blinding and ending the footage. "Oh... oh my gods..." Blake commented, shocked by Jaune's sudden flexibility and strength in the fight. All of them were shocked. This was Jaune. Jaune did this. The video said it all. Jaune somehow put three top-tier Beacon students in the infirmary effortlessly. 

"That bastard!" Yang yelled angrily. 

"Hey! We don't know what really happened! We need to find out _why_ he did it befo-"

Ruby's defense for her best friend was cut short by Yang again. "He almost killed them!" she yelled again. "And he looks like there wasn't even any hesitation!"

Ruby sighed. "It seems he was also the aggressor, too..." Blake added. Ruby gave Blake a look of disgust as if their friendship was just shattered on the floor by those very words. 

"Nora? Ren?" Ruby asked, but all she got was the two to look away in shame, silently agreeing against Jaune.

 _"Pyrrha?"_ Ruby squeaked desperately. The only answer she got from the spartan was for her to break down crying in her hands. Her friends had just instantly betrayed Jaune. Sure, there was evidence of him attacking them first! But it has to do with his mental problem! Jaune wouldn't hurt a fly! "...You're all serious?" Ruby spoke, her voice cracking under her emotions.

"...What else is there, Ruby? He ran away..." Blake said, looking away in shame as well. 

"You all disgust me."

They looked up to Ruby, but she didn't say a word. It was _Weiss_ who said it. "Weis-"

"Ruby, we're going to find him. Pack the essentials, it will take a few days." Weiss interrupted bluntly before grabbing her hand and heading for the door.

Ruby followed without hesitation, but the two were stopped by Miss Goodwitch. "Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, Professor Ozpin requests to see you in his office immediately. It's urgent," she stated.

Without hesitation Weiss left the room, heading towards Professor Ozpin's office and leaving her 'friends' to stand there in their sadness.

* * *

The elevator doors opened, and Weiss and Ruby entered the clockwork-themed office of the headmaster of Beacon Academy with Miss Goodwitch. Sitting behind his desk was Professor Ozpin waiting expectantly. He looked more serious than usual this time. "Good evening Miss Schnee, Miss Rose." he greeted as the two sat in the chairs in front of his desk as Miss Goodwitch placed herself to the side. The rain outside pattered against the glass of the windows. "Do you know why I called you two into my office?" he asked.

"Well, k-kinda," Ruby answered.

"Good," Ozpin spoke. "Glynda, may you give us some privacy?" he asked, looking to his assistant. Miss Goodwitch scowled but left the room, leaving them alone. "This is about Mr. Arc," he spoke. 

"We know, but w-why didn't you call his team instead of just us?" Ruby asked sheepishly. Ozpin was quiet for a moment, before reaching over and pressing down onto his desk, and a hologram of the footage of Jaune fighting Rex, Ella, and Ellie came up. 

"Miss Rose, I have been on this planet for a very long time, and through my years as a huntsman, I have never seen a fighting style as impractical yet efficient as this one. Mr. Arc poses a threat to this school with this mysteriously powerful skill."

"But how!?" Weiss asked loudly "It's just Jaune! Why is _Jaune_ a threat to Beacon Academy?"

"...Because the man that looked as if he couldn't fight at the start of the year somehow defeated the third-place champion of The mistral regional tournaments and his two teammates without effort nor hesitation, and you two want to find him."

Weiss slowly calmed in defeat. That _does_ sound suspicious.

"I called you two here today because you seem to be the only two people who know about his condition and care about him on an emotional level." Ozpin finally answered.

"But why did you call me here?" Weiss asked, trying to hide her crush for the knight from him. 

For once, professor Ozpin smiled amusedly. "Well, You _have_ been stalking him for the past week. You aren't the best at hiding. The only reason I didn't speak to you about it was Miss Goodwitch's protests, calling your sudden hidden affection for Mr. Arc 'romantic', So you wanting to help him was the reason for the need of your presence at this meeting, " Weiss paled. Was she really that obvious? Were Jaune and his team the only ones to not notice? "I called Miss Rose here because she is his best friend, and also wants to find him."

Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, before returning their gaze back to the headmaster. "So what do you want us to do?" Weiss asked. A hint of desperation in her tone.

"It seems he wants to distance himself from the school, so as long as he stays away from any populated areas, he isn't a threat to us. He _is_ a threat if he is returned back here. So as your headmaster, I order for you to stay on Beacon grounds until he is confirmed to be detained, or is killed." He stated.

Both of their worlds just shattered instantly. They weren't allowed to help him. "I am deeply sorry for your loss, but I cannot afford to lose two more students to this crazed man.-"

"He's not crazy!" Weiss yelled angrily.

"Miss Schnee. Again, I am sorry, but leaving to find him will only get you killed." 

"B-But he isn't crazy! Before this, he talked about how someone was in his head! He's been having nightmares about me dying every night since the fog a week ago!" Weiss yelled again in protest, standing up from her chair. Instead of interrupting her, Ozpin listened.

"Fine. I will send a huntsman to investigate. If he is still hostile, the huntsman has the permission to defend himself. Am I clear?" he asked.

Weiss hesitated but eventually agreed. "Fine..." she spoke.

"Good," Ozpin said. "I assure you, there is nothing evil inside his head. This is a simple issue of mental problems driving a man off the edge and into insanity," he assured them.

Ruby left her chair as Weiss turned and left with Ruby in tow. The two entered the elevator as Miss Goodwitch entered the room again. The elevator doors closed.

Goodwitch looked to Ozpin as he stood up from his chair and looked out of his window. "You didn't need to lie to the poor girl," Goodwitch commented.

Ozpin took a sip from his cup of coffee. "If I didn't, they would have been endured a fate worse than death," he replied. 

"How do you know if it's really here? And in Mr. Arc?" she asked.

The man took a moment to reply. "Our suspicion has been confirmed by Miss Schnee and Miss Rose," he assured her. "May I have some privacy once more? I need to make a call." Glynda rolled her eyes but left again as Ozpin took out his scroll and started to call someone.

He put the scroll to his ear as the caller picked up. "Good evening, Qrow." he greeted. "...I need your presence at Beacon for an extermination mission."

He listened to the person from the other side before replying. "...It seems as if the old man was correct."

"It's here, and we cannot allow it to leave this world."


	5. deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune is gone, and he put three students in the infirmary while doing so and put himself on a wanted list. All while his old friends condemn his actions. 
> 
> Such negativity is never healthy for anyone.
> 
> Well, except for one.

Two weeks.

That's how long it's been.

It had been two weeks since Jaune left. He put three members of Team REEL in the hospital, and everyone avoids talking about him. Everyone was in a bad mood at first, but Jaune injuring three people with the clear motive of not letting them leave alive was a driving point to not be upset about him leaving. Even Pyrrha was able to move on eventually, being made the team leader of her team, but they were never the same. Weiss and Ruby, on the other hand, distanced themselves from their team ever since the day Jaune left. Both of them actually knew about Unknown, but every time they would speak about it they would be called crazy. It infuriated Weiss and depressed Ruby. It amazed Weiss how far Ruby was willing to go to prove Jaune's innocence to the point of basically calling her own sister a traitor. Weiss could never do something like that. But even with all that, Ruby seems to be questioning if Unknown even exists more and more. Weiss is sure it exists. She saw it first hand. Ellie looked like she saw a ghost when she came out of his mind. Ozpin told them that what was in Jaune's head was fake, but she expected Ruby to block it out instantly, yet instead, it actually looked to be getting to her.

Yang, Blake, and Nora sat on a couch in one of the many recreational rooms in Beacon watching TV. Yang held the remote, skimming through the countless boring channels and networks Beacon had available for viewing. 

"And what will come next for the Atlesian army?" the reporter on the television asked, leaning the microphone forward to let General Ironwood speak.

General Ironwood cleared his throat "Well, with the new advancements and weaponry designed and manufactured by VEXera Tech, I, as the headmaster and general of Atlas academy, will make sure all of Atlas and more will be protected from the threats that lay outside of the main cities." he described. 

The reporter turned the microphone back to herself. "There have been rumors of VEXera tech conducting illegal and inhumane tests on humans and Faunus in secret, is that tru-"

The interview on the TV was cut short by Yang shutting off the television. "Ugh! There's nothing but crummy news channels and bad reality shows!" she groaned loudly. Nora let out a pout of disappointment at the lack of entertainment. Yang through the remote onto Nora's lap. The girl grabbed it like a hungry dog and immediately turned the TV back on and resumed the search for any sort of entertaining content. Yang watched the channels on the screen flash by before she heard the sound of heels clicking onto the floor. she craned her head to look at the door and found Weiss just entering the room. 

"Yang," Weiss said hesitantly "I... I need to talk to you," she stated. "It's important."

Yang internally groaned. She thought for a moment, before getting up and approaching Weiss. "What?" she asked bluntly.

Weiss grabbed her hand and left into the hallway, dragging the blonde with her until she came to a standstill. "I have proof," Weiss stated. "I can prove Jaune isn't crazy," she stated.

Yang adopted a look of annoyance. "Weiss, how many times are you going to try to convince me that Jaune isn't crazy!?" she asked loudly. "I thought you were the level-headed one, not the insane one!" she spouted.

"Please! This can actually prove it this time!" Weiss pleaded.

Weiss stood there looking at Yang's angered expression and thought for a moment. Ruby needed her sister. She was doing this for Ruby, so she would go a decent length for her team leader and the only other person that knew what was really going on. It would also help. And this time, she actually had solid evidence. She had used the description Jaune had given to Ruby when he talked about Unknown with her to find exactly who this 'Unknown' was.

Weiss sighed defeatedly. "...If you listen to me for just this once, I will..." she hesitated. "...I will tell you why I care about Jaune's innocence so much," she stated.

Yang's angered look melted away into thought. Weiss stared nervously at the girl she now realized would be the worst person to tell about her little crush on Jaune. She would never let it down. Constant teasing was on the horizon, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make to have another teammate on her team on her side. "Deal." Yang finally replied. Weiss was both overjoyed and terrified, and her face showed neither. Just a happy smile.

"Follow me," Weiss asked. Weiss headed to the dormitory with Yang in tow and pulled out a key from her neatly hidden pocket from her jacket and unlocked one of the vacant team dorms and they both entered. Yang was astounded by the volume of pictures and notes painting the walls, with multiple red ribbons stringing across them. The room looked like a crazed conspiracy theorist had snuck into Beacon and took one of the dorms. 

"Now, To start, its name is-"

"Weiss! This is crazy!" Yang commented loudly. Weiss gave her an agitated glare.

"You said you would listen!" Weiss argued. Yang quickly shut her mouth in response, and Weiss continued. "Its name is Unknown. The thing inside my Ja- _Jaune's_ head is from folklore from across Remnant. He's made of fog. Do you know what happened when Jaune was assaulted a few weeks ago?" Weiss asked, like a teacher asking a student.

"...There was fog outside," she answered, and Weiss gave Yang a satisfied nod.

"...A fog so thick it could be almost perfectly described as Unknown's fog. Unknown _lives_ in a fog so thick you wouldn't even be able to see the sun. It's made of the same fog so thick you can't see through it and looks humanoid. What was Ruby's description of the creature she saw on that day!?" Weiss asked again, more confident than before. I kind of confidence Yang was slightly afraid of.

"L-Like a Beowolf but skinny!" Yang answered frantically.

"Correct!" Weiss confirmed. "Unknown also has the ability to... did you guess it? Invade minds and give people nightmares!" Weiss shouted crazily, like she had just uncovered the secrets of Remnant. "It also has the ability to control their host!"

"Okay..." Yang replied. "So what you're saying is that-"

"It wasn't _Jaune's_ fighting style we were trying to learn, it was Unknown's!" Weiss stared back at the confused brawler with a look of crazy confidence. She sounded as if she was waiting weeks to spit all this information out to somebody. The once prim and perfect heiress to the Schnee Dust Company now turned into a crazed theorist hiding in a vacant dormitory. Weiss' insane look quickly melted in seriousness "Yang, his innocence means... _a lot_ to me. This proves the note he left was actually true. That he didn't write the note as some sick joke. By the footage of Team REEL's fight, I can tell it was Unknown fighting them."

Yang took in the information and sighed. She was still on the fence if it was just some _very_ big coincidence, but the claimed evidence Weiss was showing was deeming the idea of Jaune actually being crazy false. "So..." Yang started. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"Because Ruby needs you for moral support as her sister and I need confidence that I'm not actually going insane," she stated.

"Currently you look like you already went insane..." Yang muttered under her breath, earning an angered glare from the heiress. "Did you tell anybody else?" she asked.

"I told Pyrrha. She took it immediately." Weiss answered. Pyrrha's response to the situation wasn't surprising at all. "But she's... less confident after our deal," she stated, earning a raised brow from Yang.

"Deal?" Yang asked. 

Weiss hesitated. "It was umm... the same deal that we made. About the reason I'm proving Jaune's innocence." 

"Oh? About the one where you're overly obsessed with Jaune?"

An awkward silence.

"Excuse me...?" Weiss replied, a violent blush covering her face.

Yang grinned. "Weiss, you have a crudely made Jaune shrine in the corner," she stated, pointing towards a large pile of Jaune's belongings shaped into a kind of shrine in the corner of the room. Yang looked back to Weiss and noticed that her brain had basically just completely crashed. She stared forward as her face was as red as Ruby's cloak. Yang moved out of her view to test if she had just shut off, and her theory was right. Weiss had just stopped working. she waved her hand in front of her face, and no response. She poked her arm, no response. "Weiss?"

"Yang, you need to leave." a new voice whispered. Yang turned to see Ruby in the doorway. Her tone had a hint of fear in it. "We have ten seconds before the room is encased in ice," she stated frantically, grabbing Yang's hand and rushing out, before closing the door. They waited until they heard Weiss scream from inside the room, followed by an immediate eruption of ice from the bottom crack of the door. An awkward silence broke out before Ruby spoke. "So... Do you think what Weiss said is true?" she asked.

"Big nightmare monster in Jaune? Well, that would have to have Weiss tell me that magic is real." Yang stated.

Ruby giggled. "She can't stop talking about it. It's mandatory for the word 'magic' to be in every sentence where she's talking about Unknown with her." she joked. "You wanna see Weiss' Jaune book?" Ruby asked, an evil grin creeping to her face.

Yang, deciding to be evil, grinned at the thought. "Tell me _everything,_ " Yang responded. The reaper giggled before they both started to head towards their dorm. Leaving the heiress in her Jaune-themed box of ice.

* * *

**'You're lucky you got camping skills, or else you'd starve!'**

"Shut up."

It was midnight. Jaune sat behind a small campfire, with a cave behind him. A blue tarp covered the entrance as other survival utilities were scattered around the small area not covered by trees. He couldn't be more grateful for the frequent camping trips his family planned while he was a kid, which allowed him to master the arts of wilderness survival. What disappointed him was the lack of knowledge when it came to not losing sanity. Now that he was alone, he could speak out loud to Unknown. It wasn't helpful, but at least he could scream his lungs out whenever he poked his limit. What he benefitted the most out of was the lack of nightmares since he left Beacon.

 **'It'd be more useful to eat it now than to pointlessly burn it over hate.'** Unknown stated.

"First, stop calling it hate, it's called fire. Second, I'd rather _not_ get food poisoning, thank you?" Jaune spoke, poking at the fish on the campfire that he got from the local lake near his new home with a stick.

 **'Humans and their pointless fuel.'** it scowled.

"Yeah, well at least I have a body." Jaune snapped back.

 **'You dare speak to me like that!?'** Unknown yelled. Jaune didn't even flinch.

"And what are you gonna do? Give me a nightmare about Weiss?" Jaune answered angrily.

**'You're pitiful existence here is enough.'**

"But the difference between me and you is that I can survive." 

**'You're testing my patience, boy...'**

"My patience ran out when you lost to the purple girl." 

**'I should have killed them and mailed their heads to your team.'**

"Yet you didn't have the balls. For someone that hates Rex so much, you're pretty bad at finishing the job."

**'Enough.'**

"Make me."

**'I will make your existence hell.'**

"You already made it hell! You did this to me, you have no idea how hard it is to deal with someone like yo-"

**'̵Y̶O̷U̶ ̶D̵O̸N̵'̸T̷ ̴K̵N̶O̴W̶ ̶T̴H̴E̶ ̸H̷A̷L̸F̷ ̴O̶F̸ ̵I̷T̶,̴ ̸L̴U̷C̸I̸F̵E̵R̶!̸'̷**

Unknown's scream shook the trees and loose leaves around them into the air. The fire that crackled in front of him was quickly snuffed out instantly. The only light that Jaune could see now was the shattered moon above him. His fear for the creature in his head grew back, his angered attitude towards Unknown now replaced with terror. The monstrous yell lingered in his mind.

 **'You have witnessed your friends turn their backs onto you and you _still_ have absolutely no clue what _true_ hell is.' **it snarled.

"N-no, they still care, I'm sure of it. They're probably looking for me right now!" Jaune attempted to snap back, but it only came out a nervous plea.

 **'Do you really believe that?'** Unknown asked rhetorically. **'Because it seems they're... _glad_ that you are gone!'**

"That's not true," Jaune replied flatly, denial in his words. "Y-you're lying."

**'My friend, firecracker will break every bone in your body if she sees you again.'**

"Liar!" Jaune yelled, covering his ears to desperately block out the monster's words. 

**'You deny the fact, but deep down, you know it's true! They hate you for what you did!'**

"I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted to protect them!" Jaune yelled again, louder than before.

 **'̴"̵I̷ ̶d̷i̶d̵n̵'̸t̸ ̸w̷a̵n̵t̶ ̶i̵t̸ ̵t̸o̴ ̶b̶e̶ ̷t̴h̴i̵s̸ ̶w̷a̶y̵!̷ ̵B̷u̶t̶ ̵y̴o̷u̸ ̶d̵i̶d̷n̵'̴t̷ ̷C̴A̸R̴E̶!̶"̵'̷** It's voice changed into a perfect impression of Jaune, but it sounded older. Grittier.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Jaune yelled once more.

 **'Would you like to see for yourself?'** Unknown growled.

Jaune shut his eyes in response, trying to desperately deny the fact that his friends don't even care about him. That was his worst nightmare. Did they? Did they just put on an act to not make him feel bad? Or did they actually care? Was Unknown just lying to get him to feel worse? He should stop thinking about it. Thinking about what the true answer would be was torture for the knight. The deal got more and more tempting as his mind desperately tried to block it out. Unknown's words echoed through his mind, whether it be because of Unknown, or himself. Jaune hesitated to speak. His words kept failing him until they finally came out. "Y-Yeah... I-..." His words failed him. "...I want to see..." he muttered. 

* * *

A moment later, His vision in front of him faded. And it was replaced with Team RWBY's dorm. Where both Team RWBY and NPR stood around the room. Everyone looked either upset or angry.

_"I still can't believe he could do something like that." Yang began. "How did we not see through him!?" She questioned loudly._

_Blake looked up from her book. "Some people are good at lying," she replied. "And Jaune was just good at it."_

_"It but was J-Jaune!" Weiss yelled. "That Idio-t couldn't lie if his life depended on it!"_ Weiss' voice stuttered and hitched. It didn't sound like a human studder, but it sounded like a broken record player.

_"Yeah, but Jaune also beat Re-x!" Ruby joined the conversation. "So obviously he co-ould act too!"_

_"Ugh..." Yang groaned. "How about, we just forg-get about him? Completely. Then, that way, he doesn't get to us like he obviously wanted to do." she proposed. NPR quickly nodded, wanting to continue their year and to move on from the upsetting situation that has presented itself._

_"I'm completely fine with that," Blake spoke._

_Ruby also agreed to her sister's plan. "Me t-oo"_

_That only left Weiss. The six turned to look at the heiress, who stood at the other side of the room._

_"A-gr-gr-e-Y̶o̶u̵ ̵a̵l̵l̴ ̸d̶i̷s̸- e-"_

**'That's enough.'**

* * *

His vision of the forest in front of him returned. The world around him felt worse than before. The trees and the sky above him were blurred and he didn't know why. He could barely see the environment, but noticed a small black dot moving around in front of him. His head pounded every time something dared to make a sound as he swayed in his spot in pain. the black dot in front of him grew larger. Frustrated by his lack of sight, Jaune rubbed his eyes to clear the blur that blinded him, trying to discover what the wretched cause was. He looked down at his hands to see what it was...

oh.

It was tears.

His attention was taken by Unknown letting out a chuckle before Jaune finally noticed the sound of heavy footsteps. Looking up at once was a small blurry black dot, his heart dropped at the sight of what it was. He gasped at the large black monster looming over him in terror as he realized his sword was absent from him. The white mask, the bone-like armor covering its wolf-like body, the red beady eyes, Its large, sharp claws. All of these attributes belonged to a mighty Beowolf alpha that has found Jaune at his worst. The large Grimm snarled at him as it got closer. The slow crawl of the beast gave Jaune time to take in what his friends had said. Forget him? He didn't want to be forgotten! He wanted to be remembered as a hero, not a murderer! He didn't want his friends to forget him! Especially on purpose! Was he a bad friend? Was that why they wanted to forget him...? Were... Were _they_ bad friends? His thoughts took him away from the problem that was the large monster planning to eat him as it got even closer, walking past the now snuffed-out campfire. Would a friend immediately change sides against him if he did something bad on accident, or would they want to figure out why he did it before they made him their enemy? 

He left his thoughts to find himself face-to-face with the Beowolf alpha. He stared into its hate-filled eyes. Not in fear, but in impatience. "Do it already... I don't care..." He spoke softly, tears stringing down his face. The monster complied, slowly lifting its large paw into the air, getting ready to swing. It let out a final growl before it hurled its claw towards the boy with all its strength.

**'Κατάρα του Λούσιφερ.'**

Unknown's mysterious gibberish made the Beowolf recoil its hand away from Jaune as if it was being burnt. The confused knight stared at the beast as it did the most surprising and impossible thing a Grimm could ever do.

It whimpered in fear.

The Beowolf stared at Jaune in terror! The creature struggled on its feet as the elegant and intricate design lining its mask disappeared, and a large red scar-like design took its place across its right eye. The Beowolf finally stopped struggling, before standing on its four legs. It looked down at Jaune. No beast-like snarls, no hungry growls. It looked down at Jaune without any hostility towards him.

Jaune finally realized that the creature of Grimm was Not just no longer hostile towards him, but it treated him like a pet and its master.

"What did you just do!? What did you do to me!?"

Ignoring Jaune's desperate plea, Unknown spoke. **'I am much more powerful than you can ever imagine, and I am not even the strongest user of this magic. And I'd be disrespecting the fool of a man that took the power for himself to begin with if I said I was the only person that had it.'**

Jaune continued to stare at the now-loyal Grimm in front of him in horror. It sat patiently in front of him, waiting for orders from the knight. Leaving him to his own, deadly thoughts. 

**'Now that you have the control of a powerful creature of Grimm, what would you like to do-'**

"Why me...?" Jaune asked defeatedly, his voice cracking as his tears continued. "Why was I the person you had to ruin!? Why couldn't you have done it to Ruby, or Yang, or Weiss- or even Rex!?" he yelled.

**'That is to be-'**

"No!" He interrupted, standing on his feet and turning to the rocky wall of the cave behind him. "I'm done with your demands while I'm stuck in the dark!" he yelled. closing the gap between him and the wall. gripping the wall, Jaune readied himself for a very, very hard and blunt pain. "I'm gonna stop you if I die in the process!"

**SMASH!**

His head collided violently into the rock wall. He heard a loud ringing in his ears as his vision grew dizzy. He readied himself for another hit.

"I wanted to be a Huntsmen!"

**SMASH!**

His vision grew weaker. 

"I wanted to love someone!"

**SMASH!**

He started to sway as his head only felt pain.

"I wanted my friends to CARE ABOUT ME!"

**SMASH!**

His sight was blinded by white on impact as he felt himself fall to the ground. The pain too unbearable.

* * *

**"What you want is impossible."**

He heard birds chirping above him. His eyes slowly opened, the pain from before gone completely, and saw the sun shining above him. He covered the sun from his sight with his hand before finally processing who spoke to him. 

It was Unknown, but it wasn't in his head.

Shooting up from his spot in realization, he frantically looked around for the source of the voice, seeing the collapsed campfire beside him and the Beowolf Alpha sitting obediently beside it, staring at him. The final thing he saw was... something he's never seen before. hovering in the air beside the Beowolf, a ball of fog. The fog floated upward like a flame.

"W-What is that!?" The knight screamed fearfully.

**"I chose you because you are powerful."**

The voice came from the ball of fog! It glowed as it spoke its words. "W-what...?"

 **"I chose you as a vessel because you were the strongest of them all."** Unknown answered again.

He was... the strongest? That was impossible. He was the one to be stuck under a rock while his friends killed the creatures of Grimm effortlessly. "But... how? W-why!? I can't do anything right! The others are leagues above me!" Jaune spoke, still flabbergasted by Unknown's reasoning.

**"I've seen you in another world. A world where you became a very powerful person. And the similarity between you and him is that he did it because he wanted to prove his friends wrong about him being weak."**

Silence. Jaune sat there in complete and utter silence. He thought about another version of him existing, but not one like _that._ His brain fully processed Unknown's full explanation as he let himself fall onto his back.

**"They don't care about you. They never did, they never will. Their lies must face consequences. punishment. That is where your redemption will come into play."**

Jaune wanted to deny it. To push it away and run. Any trace of Unknown being inside his head was completely gone, so he could run away back to Beacon and come back to his teammates. His...

No! No no no no! This wasn't supposed to happen! They're his friends! His family! This was different than that! It must be a different universe where they don't care, but this one they do!-

" **Every world leads to the same ending. With them not wanting you."** Unknown put his train of thought to a full stop.

...oh...

_'Stop it.'_

_'Deny it.'_

_'don't let it get to you'_

_'Don't do it."_

_'You'll regret it.'_

"...How do I become that... that powerful...?" Jaune asked shyly.

_'There's no turning back now.'_

**"Well, I have his routine and training memorized, so all that's needed is your agreement."**

The birds stopped chirping.

the sound of the trees swaying stopped.

**"Would you like to punish the people that made you this way?"**

_'Don't!'_

_'Stop!'_

_'You'll regret it!'_

_'Revenge isn't the answer!'_

"...Yes," Jaune answered hesitantly. "...I want to be strong. I-... I want them to regret hurting me..."

The beast chuckled.

 **"...Then I am as loyal to you as the creatures of Grimm."** it snarled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect the White knight fanfiction to be a bad!Jaune fanfiction as well, did ya!? A little idea I've been cooking up. I think the pacing of this chapter is a little iffy, but it told what it needed to tell.


	6. Bounty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> enemy of my enemy.

**"Good work."**

"Thank you..."

Jaune panted, looking over the now disintegrating Ursa in front of him that he had just slain. Unknown watched from afar, the creepy ball of smog observing Jaune's efforts with the beowolf alpha sitting patiently beside him. **"It's been a week since you left and you're improving already,"** he questioned.

"Yeah..." Jaune muttered, sheathing Crocea Mors and turning back to head to his campsite. The beowolf alpha, now named Pete, obediently followed. Jaune sat down behind his campfire as the orange evening sky loomed over him. Jaune has been put through ruthless training every day, with the day ending with him having too little energy to hunt for food himself. Thankfully, he has a large pet of darkness to do it for him. "Pete, go fetch some fish," Jaune ordered. The beowolf alpha complied, sitting up and walking into the forest to the river nearby. While his pet gathered fish, he concentrated on lighting the campfire in front of him. He luckily lit it quickly, with Pete coincidentally coming back, a large gathering of fish in its mouth. The Grimm lowered itself and dropped it delicately onto the ground, before quietly returning to his spot. The knight grabbed one of the fish and promptly placed it over the fire and started to wait.

His training was fairly organized, with Unknown _somehow_ writing an entire book about it. The book seemed to have been written fairly fast, knowing that he didn't get to see Unknown actually write it. That begged the question if Unknown even made the book. The book had a hard black cover, with a strange symbol on the front. It was a combination of his family crest and some other black and purple symbol. Unknown forbid him from even looking directly at the book, telling him it would kill him. That just made him more curious about what was in the book that could kill him. Maybe some evil ancient spells? Some creepy images that would kill you if you looked at them? These questions came to mind every time the book hovered open in front of Unknown. What he definitely knew was in the book was complex and very detailed ways of countering everyone. Each day would be dedicated to one person and how to counter their attack.

It started with Ruby, who was simple, yet the counters meant for Ruby were very complex, meant to attack against the same level of complexity from Ruby, but the attacks described crossed Ruby's skill ceiling by a few miles. Ruby didn't know all of these attacks! She couldn't know!

The next day was Weiss, which he hesitated to even be willing to learn at first, keeping how he had a fairly large crush on her in mind. He eventually caved in and learned every attack she could throw at him. His shield was the most effective against her, being able to block any sudden and quick attacks from the princess with her glyphs. What interested him was her semblance, which was to summon anything she had slain before. She relied heavily on something called an 'Arma Giga', which was a large knight. Weiss suffered the same treatment as Ruby, which was him training to fight against someone that didn't have this level of skill. This book depicted Team RWBY as the best huntresses ever!

After Weiss came Blake. Blake relied on her speed, mobility, and her semblance to win, but a lot of the attacks Unknown claimed Blake would use relied on Yang. The best counter to her speed was attacking Gambol Shroud's rope. Cutting the rope would cut out the chance of a Blake/Yang combo and a multitude of attacks. A sense of awareness of the surroundings is extremely required, due to her speed.

And the last was Yang. Yang hits _hard._ And without Blake, she hits... _less_ hard. Unknown stated that the best course of action when fighting the duo is to get Yang down first because taking out Blake would enrage Yang, which would lead to immediate death. He never knew the two were ever that close. Crocea Mors' shield is also the best tool to deal with yang, yet he doubted the shield would last a single hit from the blonde. Charging the brawler's semblance is the worst idea he could do, so taking her out before she even knew it was the best course of action.

Nora and Ren were just copies of Yang and Blake, Nora hits hard and Ren is fast.

Pyrrha?

Unknown said there wasn't a page for Pyrrha.

The latest one he learned about was none other than Rex Calivar. Rex is apparently a powerhouse, according to Unknown. His semblance allows him to use his body heat and turn it into fire at will or forcefully when angered, which basically meant, in Unknown's words: 'Piss him off and he'll burst into flames.' which gave him the passive ability to have fire resistance. He barely knew the guy, but Unknown apparently knew _a lot._ His semblance is similar to Yang's but without the need to take damage to charge their attack. Instead, Rex has the ability to temporarily control fire at will for a limited time. After the time runs out, his aura completely shatters. Unknown had also mentioned that his semblance was hereditary from his father, which meant his father was able to completely train him on it.

**"You moron, the fish is going to burn."**

Jaune snapped out of his synopsis of the day and quickly took the now barely burnt fish off of the fire. The lack of seasoning on his dinner made it look and smell like sadness, but he ate it anyway. After Jaune had eaten his overly depressing meal, he stood up and approached his cave. "Goodnight," he spoke, entering his rocky home.

A few seconds afterward, Unknown spoke. **"Humans and their repetitive hunting..."** he joked, earning an amused and beastly snort from Pete.

* * *

Weiss stood in front of Team REEL's dorm as the same purple-haired girl that saved Team REEL stood in the doorway. Weiss planned to go down a list of people to tell about Unknown, and right after Yang was the last and most level-headed member of Team REEL: Luna Calivar. Luna shared the same semblance of her father and brother, which was Thermofire. While her brother and her father use the power to dish out the most damage at once, Luna used her semblance in spurts, relying on her weapon more than her semblance. but when truly, deeply angered, those lessons of elegance and restraint are thrown out the window and the girl is transformed into a purple Yang. So telling her about Jaune's reasonings before the said man that tried to kill her entire team showed up suddenly with the huntsmen Ozpin sent to find him would give them a chance for half of Beacon Academy to not implode into a fiery blaze at the sight of him.

"...So, if I'm getting this straight, Jaune _didn't_ attack my team, it was a fairy tale fog monster controlling him?" Luna asked.

"Exactly," Weiss answered.

Luna sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Weiss, you've lost your mind."

"I assure you it's true! There's too much evidence!" The heiress defended.

"It's just a coincidence!" Luna argued. "Jaune. Is. Crazy. Your crush on him doesn't change a thing!"

"That creature is real!-"

"Enough. You need help. _Mental_ help. This monster isn't _real._ Jaune being a victim of this monster isn't _real._ Jaune being innocent isn't _real!"_

"If I bring him back and prove it, will you believe me!?"

"Bring him back and the only thing you'll be proving is how little I can turn him into meat chunks."

Before Weiss could respond, the door was promptly shut, leaving Weiss alone in the hallway. The worst-case scenario Weiss could think of was what she just witnessed. She just _had_ to be the worst person to deny this creature's existence. She wasn't just worried for Jaune, but Luna as well. Who knows what this monster can do to the both of them and everyone around them. Weiss let out a frustrated sigh before swiftly turning and leaving, an angered look on her face. Storming off, Weiss was stopped in her tracks by her scroll receiving a call. Taking it out of her pocket, she noticed that this wasn't a caller she knew. The name of the caller was labeled "ZV". How did this random stranger get her number? Interested and annoyed by this stranger's sudden scroll call, she picked up.

"Who is this!?" She asked impatiently, awaiting an answer.

An old yet serious voice answered. "How many are on your side?" he asked.

"E-Excuse me?" Weiss asked confusedly.

"How many of your teammates believe in Unknown?"

_What?_

This... complete _stranger_ magically calls her scroll and _somehow_ knows about Unknown? Her brain had completely stopped at this point.

"Come on, I don't have much time until he does something to your precious Arc." The man ushered impatiently.

"H-How do you know about that!?" she asked frantically.

"I know a lot of things. Now, I need to know who in Team RWBY and JNPR know and avidly believe in our little problem."

Finally throwing all rationality out the window, she answered swiftly. "R-Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Pyrrha Nikos," she replied.

"Perfect," he spoke. "Now, I know how to kill him. This all must be confusing, but I assure you if I told you who I was you'd have your entire life taken away from you."

"You do? How?" Weiss asked, eagerness in her voice.

"The time hasn't come yet. But I assure you, Jaune is fine. _Unknown_ isn't a threat right now."

Seriously? He called her, didn't even give her his name, tells her he knows how to end this entire situation, and then basically refuses to give her the answer? "No! I need to know how to kill this thing now!" she argued.

"Weiss, currently, right now, at this very moment, if you do _anything,_ you'll be killing yourself, and putting everyone at risk."

"You said he wasn't a threat!"

"I sure did. It won't be Unknown you'll be getting the attention of. It'll be _her._ Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go..."

"Her!? Who's her!?" Weiss asked desperately

"Notimeforquestionsgoodbye-" the man quickly hung up.

Weiss stood in the hallway, completely stunned by the short and sudden conversation she had just had. Only when a certain blonde nudged at her shoulder did she finally snap out from her dazed state.

"You okay there?" the brawler asked.

The heiress let out a deep, long, and tired sigh. "No, no I am not..." she answered, closing her scroll and continuing to their room.

* * *

For the first time in ages, he finally got a decent amount of sleep.

He couldn't describe what he was witnessing, but it was... strange. He was in some... void. All around him was black. It felt empty and lonely. He felt like he was floating around forever until a light shined in front of him. The shimmer became brighter until he couldn't directly look at it without blinding himself. Only when he started hearing whispers is when a silhouette was taking shape in the light. Jaune's fear arose with each whisper as the quiet voices got louder as the silhouette got larger and more defined. The whispers got loud enough to make out barely, as they all chanted the same word in a tone full of fear.

Witch.

His heart dropped as the fear of these voices settled in his mind. Witch. Only when the silhouette finally got closer is when these whispers became shouts. The silhouette changed into a more feminine appearance as long, dark hair came into his view. Any features of their face were made a black void by her shadow. 

**"WITCH!"** The voices shouted angrily. Jaune had the look of a deer in headlights as the person in front of him stopped, and the woman finally spoke. Her voice sounded elegant.

"See the thing that you side with."

The world around him crumbled as screams filled his ears.

**"̶Y̴O̵U̸'̴L̵L̵ ̸D̸I̵E̶ ̶A̶S̸ ̴P̸A̶-̶I̷N̵F̷-̵F̶U̴L̶L̸Y̷ ̶A̶S̷ ̵S̸H̵E̷ ̸D̵-̴D̴I̶D̸!̶"̷**

He shot up from his small makeshift sleeping bag in a cold sweat as the ground below him shook. Gunshots erupted from outside as large, monstrous steps shook the ground as it walked. The sound of gears turning filled his ears for seconds before stopping constantly. birds cawed outside from whatever battle was erupting outside. Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors and readied his sword and shield for a fight with whatever kind of Grimm that was out there. Slowly approaching the tarp between him and whatever was outside, he grabbed the cover and pulled.

"This wasn't apart of the deal, Oz!" a man's voice was heard as all he could see was fog. It wasn't as thick as the time Beacon had fog, but it was still thick enough so that he could barely see the trees in front of him. "You said there was just a kid! Not whatever this thing is!" Jaune took cover as a tree trunk flew past him, landing violently against another tree. He peeked past the rock he was hiding behind to see three Beowolves running through the fog before they were quickly killed by what Jaune guessed was a Huntsman with a large sword. The thing this huntsman was fighting... it wasn't a Grimm. Because whatever was out there let out a cackling and sinister laugh. 

**"̵W̴H̴A̵T̸'̷S̸ ̶W̴-̷W̴R̴O̵N̸G̶!̶?̷ ̴C̵A̶-̶B̵I̵-̷C̵R̵O̴W̶ ̷G̵O̷T̴ ̶Y̷O̸U̵R̸ ̸T̶O̴N̶G̴U̶E̶!̴?̷"̶** The thing screamed as another tree came toppling down. **"̷H̷E̸ ̴W̸A̵S̸ ̸R̸I̴G̸H̶T̴!̷ ̶Y̷O̸U̵ ̸A̶R̵E̷ ̴N̶O̶T̸H̵I̶N̵G̵ ̸B̵U̵T̵ ̷A̷ ̴P̵-̴P̷E̴S̷T̷ ̷T̷H̷A̷T̷ ̴S̴U̶C̶K̸S̸ ̴U̵P̸ ̴T̷O̴ ̷C̶H̵-̸C̵H̶I̵L̷D̷R̷E̶N̸!̷"̷** it laughed.

A war cry echoed threw the forest as the thing let out a pained scream of agony. **"̵̛̹J̴̠̕E̸͓͑S̷͗ͅÙ̶͙S̶̘ ̸̪͌C̵̰͂H̷̜̍R̴̦̍I̸̳͝S̵͈̍T̷̮͒!̸̗̅"̶͚̍** Jaune was startled by all the fog around him quickly dissipating instantly, and the entire forest around him was shredded. The only thing standing left was a man with black hair and a large sword covered in blood. The thing he was fighting was probably long gone by now. The knight readied his sword and shield as he felt something go off in his mind telling him this man wasn't friendly. The man took a while to breathe before finally noticing him.

"H-Hey, kid..." he panted.

"L-Leave! Now!" Jaune yelled as the man finally caught his breath and stood up straight. Jaune's heart dropped when the man readied his weapon as well.

They stood in place, opposite of each other and ready to fight. The Huntsman looked into the forest suddenly as what felt like a stampede of Grimm was coming straight for them.

"God damn it!" the man yelled in frustration. To Jaune's relief, the Huntsmen ran in the opposite direction of the stampede. Shortly after the man left, a small army of Grimm came running through and into the direction of the man. Jaune sighed in relief before sitting down and looking around and taking in the destruction around him. 

**"Good morning."** The ball of fog greeted, leaving the cave behind Jaune.

"What the hell was that!?" Jaune exclaimed angrily, turning to face him.

**"That, my apprentice, was a hitman."**

"A what!?" 

**"Your old friends sent him. Now, we need to leave this area, or else he'll come back."**

"But-W-Wait!" Jaune argued as Unknown floated behind him and pushed him into the forest. "D-don't I have to pack!?"

**"There's no time! We'll find more supplies later!"**

Jaune was helplessly taken into the forest with Unknown, now leaving his cave home in search of a new home. What Jaune didn't notice in the wreckage of the forest around him though, was a large white, foggy decapitated monstrous arm slowly disappearing into the morning sky.


	7. Face to face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seeing the face of the enemy can be a regretful decision.

"What do you mean you didn't kill him?" Ozpin asked.

Qrow Branwen stood pacing angrily in front of Ozpin's desk in his office high above the clouds. "I don't know what to tell you, Oz! You said that thing was still in the kid's mind!" he argued.

"I did," Ozpin told him. "And I should be correct."

"Does a horde of Grimm being lead by a giant monster that _talks_ 'correct' to you!?" Qrow yelled. "For as much as I hate the bastard and his ego, this is something James' army is actually needed for!"

Glynda stood forward, finally speaking up. "We've talked to him," she stated. "Currently, the Atlesian army's weapons and technology have malfunctioned mysteriously shortly before the presence of this creature was known. It suggests that it was an inside job, but the manufacturing company responsible for the distribution of the stock refuses to let James' forces anywhere near its facilities by the CEO himself."

"Oh, well that's just perfect!" Qrow started. "The first time James' army is useful, VEXera shuts down their weapons!? This isn't just a threat! This is a global emergency!"

"And that's why we must keep it a secret. There is sure to be panic if the existence of a multi-dimensional demon is revealed to the public." Ozpin stated.

"You can't keep hiding secrets, Oz-"

"Qrow, this is more of a threat than _she_ is." 

"Do you think I don't know that? This thing knows what happened to people wehaven't heard of in years! And it said it's 'last master' _killed_ the queen!"

The room fell into a silent tension. Glynda stood in place, stunned by Qrow's hard-to-believe claim, while Ozpin sat in his chair, in more of a shock than Glynda was. "T-That's impossible! If Salem were dead, there wouldn't be Grimm!" she denied confidently. Qrow thought for a moment, before realizing that any clues that the queen had died would have revealed by now.

"...You're right." Qrow agreed. "So, we're pretty sure that whatever this creature's old master is _didn't_ kill her. But why would it say something like that?" he questioned to himself.

"What else did it say?" Ozpin asked, leaning forward in his chair in question. 

Qrow slowly paced around the clockwork office, in thought to try and remember. "Something about a black knight, the devil, something about green lipstick for god-knows why..." Qrow paused. "...And Summer." he finished. "Whatever it is, it knows people's secrets. And uses it to its advantage."

The room fell to silence once more. Ozpin had been informed by an unknown caller that something ethereal was coming, but never thought it would come so soon. This caller gave no name nor did they give a form of contact in the future. Even when Ozpin traced the call, the equipment that traced the scroll blue-screened, showing that this caller obviously had precautions when it came to people tracking them. Not to mention that this was high-end Atlas technology that was somehow crashed remotely. 

"So what now?" Qrow asked, taking a flask from his suit. 

Ozpin sat in his chair, thinking. "...We fight it." he finally spoke, looking up at the two who stood before him.

"What about the kid?" Qrow asked. "From the equipment and state of the area before that thing attacked me, it looked like it was training him."

Ozpin once more took time to think. "We cannot let this beast destroy this world. _Whatever the cost_ _,_ " Ozpin stated, specifying his last words. Ozpin knew his transcripts were forged, but he showed great promise from his optimistic personality towards his team and Team RWBY, to his exceptional skill as a leader. It pained him when this beast had taken his naivety and used it for evil. From the day Ozpin had learned of Mr. Arc's sudden and extreme increase in skill, he had suspicions, but those suspicions never crossed over the idea of an otherworldly creature controlling him. Mr. Arc's new skill had been this creature all along, controlling him like a puppet.

Glynda left for the elevator with a silent grumble to prepare for whatever kind of nonsense that was about to unfold, with Qrow leading slowly behind. "This thing is multi-dimensional, right?" Qrow asked, turning his head towards Ozpin to see the headmaster give him a nod. "So if this thing's... _old master_ didn't kill _her..._ " Qrow spoke, stopping in his tracks as he finished.

"...Then what queen _did_ they kill?"

* * *

Jaune had finally had a fully cooked meal for once. 

Jaune had found a village on his travels with Unknown, and Jaune, using what Lien he had left, decided to go to a small Inn/restaurant residing in the village and get himself something to eat. Nothing expensive, of course. Jaune exited the restaurant as he started to approach the outskirts of the village and look around for a moment, finding a familiar floating ball of fog hiding behind a tree.

 **"What did you eat?"** Unknown asked, raising an eyebrow from Jaune.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

**"I'd rather have a non-starving human to train, and the least I can get is you to tell me if you're an idiot or not by your answer."**

"Chicken nuggets," Jaune responded.

 **"Moron!"** Unknown quickly scolded.

"What!?" Jaune quickly defended himself nervously. "They had my favorite food on the menu and it didn't cost much! That's a steal!"

**"A _steak_ would have been almost the same price and significantly more nutritious than a handful of deep-fried nuggets of poultry!"**

"Ugh, now you sound like Weiss when Ruby eats too many cookies...-"

 **"What did I say?"** Unknown interrupted.

Jaune sighed. "...Don't talk about Team RWBY or NPR..." Jaune spoke as if reading from a book.

 **"Good."** Unknown confirmed. **"Now let's go kill a deer or something."** He finished, in an absolutely non-creepy way.

"What are you gonna do? drink the blood from it?" Jaune joked.

 **"Hmmm..."** Unknown thought. **"If I'm in the mood,"** he answered, earning a visible and audible shiver from the knight.

The two left into the woods once again, continuing their search for a new home, but not without attracting attention from the locals, who were already contacting authorities on the wanted man.

* * *

"And that's everyone!" Yang announced as the door to Team NPR closed.

Nora and Ren were the last people on their list to ask for their support on Unknown, and it went as expected. Nora took it immediately, noting how many ways she could break it, and Ren was harder to convince, but he came around in the end. Weiss couldn't stand Yang's constant teasing, but she makes up for her assistance. Without Yang, it would have been significantly harder to convince the others without someone to back her up.

"What now?" Yang asked as the two entered their dorm room. "Do you have any plan on saving your knight yet?" she teased. 

Weiss's eye twitched in irritation. " _No,_ " she answered coldly. "I haven't thought this far. We don't even know where he is," she spoke, sitting down on her bed to think.

"I might have something," Yang spoke. "Team CFVY are going on a 'secret' bounty mission today. Do you think that might have something to do with Jaune?"

"...Maybe?" Weiss hesitantly replied. "Do you know the details?"

"That's what made me suspicious. The bounty is near Hannahmay village, but when I asked them what the bounty was they said they were told 'you'll know it when you see it' and that was it. They were told nothing else."

"That's the village nestled underneath Vytal island on the map, the Northernmost part of Sanus." Weiss described. The village sat close to an abnormally large cliff with a single tree sat atop its highest hill, a perfect place for a picnic, or a suicide. Either way, it was beautiful from the pictures Weiss had seen of it, and from the research she had done on Sanus while she studied for Beacon back in Atlas, the area had a strange lack of Grimm on the cliff. 

"So what do you think? Any sign of if it's Jaune and Unknown?" Yang asked.

"Without a doubt, And we need to come with them," Weiss concluded.

"Oh? So are we following them or are we asking to tag along on the mission?" 

"We ask, and if not, we follow," Weiss replied.

"Hey!" The two were taken out from their conversation to notice both Ruby and Blake in the room. "Are you guys planning on going on a mission without your team leader's permission!?" Ruby joked dramatically, hanging from her bunkbed. 

"Nope!" Weiss played along. "That's because you're coming with us!"

"What about Team NPR?" Blake looked up from her book. "They should know."

Yang answered her question. "Of course they should, that's why they'll be tagging along." 

"Let's go tell them!" Ruby yelled excitedly, jumping from her bed and quickly rushing out the door, with the other three members of Team RWBY following her to the other side of the hall. 

Ruby knocked on the door, and it was quickly opened by Pyrrha. "Hello, Ruby. Was there anything you needed?"

"We're going on a very top-secret and very important mission, and we need you to come with us!" the reaper described joyfully, before being interrupted by Blake.

"Uh, Ruby, we don't even know if Professor Ozpin will let us on this mission." 

"What's the mission?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"It's about Jaune!" she answered quickly, triggering the rest of team RWBY to facepalm. "Sorry," she composed herself. "It _is_ about Jaune. And we need your help to save him."

"Save him?" the Spartan asked.

"Team CFVY's going on a bounty mission and we have a sneaking suspicion it's about Jaune," Yang informed her. "And depending on if Unknown or Jaune is controlling Jaune's body, Team CFVY is in serious danger without us."

"Well no matter what, we're with you, Ruby," Pyrrha spoke. "If Professor Ozpin lets us go on the mission, we'll be ready by the minute," she assured her.

"Great! We'll go ask Ozpin!" 

Pyrrha closed the door, and the four ventured towards Beacon tower to Ozpin's office. As they walked, the sun had set enough for the lights around Beacon to turn on, signifying that it was now evening. They entered the tower and went into the elevator that leads to the headmaster's office.

"If Professor Ozpin's sending Team CFVY after Jaune, then what happened to the huntsmen that Ozpin sent after Jaune?" Ruby asked, craning her head forward to look past Yang and Blake to Weiss.

"I... I don't know, Ruby." The heiress answered, a sense of dread in her tone. Ruby looked forward once more, a frown adorn her face. 

The elevator finally stopped with a quick chime before opening, and they entered the headmaster's clock-themed office. The sun had set long ago from the ground, but from up here, the sun's light barely peered into the room, giving the room a beautiful bright orange tint. Professor Ozpin looked up from the paperwork in front of him to give attention to the four girls now in front of him.

"Good evening, girls," he greeted. "How may I help you?" 

"Well..." Ruby started, nervously shuffling forward to speak. "...We heard that Team CFVY was going on a mission, and we wanted to know if we could _come along?"_ Ruby gave a nervous smile to sell off her innocent request.

Ozpin stared back at the Red reaper. "...Do you know what mission Team CFVY has been assigned to?" the headmaster asked slowly, further sinking the team into nervousness. 

"... _No?"_ The young girl dragged out her single word.

Ozpin, once again, made eye contact with the girl, which was something she didn't want to do! "...This mission is secret, and shouldn't be discussed outside of the team that it was assigned to. How you even got this information, is beyond me. But something tells me that a _certain_ group of girls have taken this information and plan on saving a certain boy from harm, with permission, or not."

The four tensed up. 

"So the mission _is_ about Jaune?"

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.

"What!? I was asking!"

Ruby returned to line up with her team in front of Ozpin as Weiss let out a grumble of irritation. 

Ozpin sighed. "...Yes, I suppose it is about Mr. Arc. But don't be frightened by the theme of this mission."

"Bounty. You want Team CFVY to kill him." Blake spoke.

"Yes, but actually _no,_ " Ozpin added.

"No?" Weiss questioned. 

"It's not the Arc they're trying to kill." 

The four turned to look at the new voice, and Ruby's eyes lit up. "Uncle Qrow!" she yelled excitedly, running over to him and hugging him tightly. "I thought you were on a mission?"

"I was," he began, "But dear old Ozpin here had the audacity to take me out of it to try and kill a kid with an alien in his head."

Weiss's eyes, ten times brighter, lit up like an Atlesian tree on winter holidays. "I KNEW IT!" she yelled. "IknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewitIknewit, I knew it!" she cheered proudly. Ozpin smiled, amused at the heiress's one-woman congratulation party. 

"Wait, so what's happening to Jaune and a fairytale about a monster from a cloud of fog actually _not_ coincidental?" Yang asked. "I mean, I had my doubts, but... wow!"

"I'm sorry to cut short your party, Schnee, but this thing isn't your usual singular Atlesian Sulfer Fish. It's not in this kid's mind anymore, and it's dangerous." Qrow added.

"We'll bring Team NPR!" Ruby shouted bravely. "We'll kill this thing and save Jaune!" she cheered.

Everyone's attention was caught by Qrow letting out a sudden vicious cough, grasping his chest for air as each cough would let out a misty white substance.

"Qrow?" Ozpin called for his name. The man in question was finally able to stop the coughing. 

"S-sorry Oz," Qrow apologized. "God, what did I inhale...?"

"Do you smoke?" Blake asked. 

"No..." he answered, confused by the sudden aggressive cough. 

Qrow steadied himself against a pillar, before the coughing resumed more violently, knocking him to his knees as more mist spewed from his lungs. yang and Ruby came to his side to help him on his feet as Ozpin stood up from his chair. When Qrow was finally able to stop the coughing, the floor already had a thick layer of fog over it. "What's happening!?" Ruby asked frantically. They looked to their feet to see the fog around them start to swirl, and it was picking up speed.

"Move!" Ozpin yelled, triggering the four to back away as the fog climbed upward until it suddenly dissipated, leaving...

"That's..."

"That's Jaune..."

Jaune stood in front of them, yet it wasn't Jaune, it was more a clone made of fog than it was actually him.

 **"THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I WORKED HARD ON THE INTRODUCTION!"** The thing bellowed dramatically.

"W-What are you!?" Weiss yelled. 

The monster in front of them looked exactly like Jaune, from the armor to the apparel, but it had a single shade of white and a lack of any facial features other than a mouth and eye sockets a slightly darker shade of grey than its body color.

 **"Are you serious?"** It asked. **"You've been stalking my fairytales for a week now and you don't even know who I am by the look of me? I feel offended!"**

"You're... You're Unknown!"

 **"AAAAAAAND WEEEE'VE GOT A WINNER! DING DING DING! BINGO, LITTLE SNOW WHITE!"** The thing warped its body and danced in a sick joke to show that the Heiress had guessed who it was. **"I! AM! UNKNOWN!"** It sang loudly.

"Why have you come here?!" Ozpin yelled. 

Unknown's neck snapped back to look at the headmaster, letting out a painful (And physically impossible) crack. **"You're going to have to specify, Oz!"**

"This world. What greed did you come here for? Did you come to this place to destroy us?"

 **"Oh, I have no right!"** It answered. Everyone mentally sighed in relief. **"My master has reserved that kind of pleasure for himself!"** That relief was snuffed out immediately.

**"Anyway, I invaded your dear old uncle's lungs to inform you of something!"**

"And what would that be?" Ruby asked, giving off a tone of bravery against the beast.

 **"Oh, the Rose has thorns!"** it exclaimed dramatically, walking over and seeing her closely face-to-face. **"...She always does, doesn't she?"** The jester-like tone of its voice replaced with pure venom and malice, which caught the young reaper off-guard, and her brave mask started to crack. The thing lifted its hand and grabbed her chin slowly. It lifted her head up to inspect her, forcing Ruby to stare into its dead and void-like eyes. **"...Why do you always have to be a prick in our sides?"** It whispered. The young huntress's mask cracking more. **"...You can't stop us now... You'll die in vain,"** it whispered to her.

Ruby gathered all her strength to talk back. "...Y-You've been stopped before... and we _will stop you_...-"

 **"Well I could have sworn I've heard you S̶A̵Y̴ ̸T̶H̷E̸ ̶S̷A̶M̷E̶ ̶T̴H̶I̵N̷G̶ ̶O̸N̷C̸E̴ ̸I̷N̶ ̷A̸ ̴F̴A̵I̷R̶Y̸T̴A̵L̷E̸!̶"̷** The thing screamed, grabbing her head aggressively in rage. Ruby's mask of bravery broke as a tear fell down her cheek and her breathing got heavy. **"N̵O̴ ̴O̸N̵E̴ ̶G̷E̸T̷S̶ ̸A̴ ̴H̵A̷P̶P̴Y̶ ̸E̴V̸E̷R̶ ̶A̸F̶T̷E̷R̷,̸ ̵N̴O̸ ̷M̷A̴T̸T̵E̸R̷ ̸H̷O̸W̴ ̵M̷A̶N̵Y̶ ̷T̶I̸M̷E̵S̴ ̸S̸H̷E̵ ̷S̵A̶Y̶S̵ ̵S̶O̷!̴-"**

**_Slice!_ **

The fog-made hands that held the reaper in place disintegrated as a large sword cleaved them off. The enraged expression on its face fell to a neutral look. The handless creature slowly stepped back and away from Ruby as Qrow cautiously readied his weapon again for a fight.

 **"Jaune Arc is mine. He'll make a good personal puppet."** No malice. No venom. Just a simple state-of-fact tone left its barely existent throat, and it couldn't affect the four in front of him more. **"He's a gullible kid. That gullibility got him to see... well, the 'truth'. the truth that the people that supposedly cared for him, _didn't._ That _you_ thought he wasn't worth the time of day!"**

"That's not true!" Weiss argued. "...We care for him. We just weren't taking care of him."

 **"Oh, so the fabled snow queen now cries for her knight!"** it mocked. **"But what a twist! The knight has chosen the correct side! MY SIDE! HAHAHAHAH!"**

It laughed and laughed in front of them, grabbing at its face as it bellowed openly. After about ten seconds of psychotic laughter, it suppressed its laughter enough to speak.

**"A-and if you come and try to save 'em, well, I'LL SEND YOU TO THE DEVIL HERSELF! HAHAHAHA!"**

The thing continued its laughter as the Fog clone of Jaune started to fade away, until the laughter finally stopped, and they were left with silence.

"...T-that's what Unknown looks like..." Blake muttered.

They looked up to see Professor Ozpin with a scroll to his ear. "Glynda, come to the bullhead docks, And bring Port and Oobleck." He stated. "And tell Team CFVY their mission has been 'called off'."

The headmaster hung up before putting his scroll away and looking to Ruby. "Miss Rose, May you call Team NPR and inform them of the situation?" 

"O-on it!" she responded, taking out her scroll and sending Pyrrha a text. 

"What now professor?" Yang asked. 

"There's a bullhead ready for departure on the bullhead docks. It should take about an hour," he stated. "I suggest getting ready, or would you like an interdimensional demon to be harder to kill?"

The four quickly gathered their senses and quickly left the office to the elevator. Ozpin looked on as the doors closed, and Qrow calmed down. "You think they can fight it?" Qrow asked.

"No," the headmaster replied. "From what I could tell, the last group to fight this creature could only prevent it from coming back. It is a walking nightmare, Qrow."

"So what are you going to do? Last I remember, you have a school to run."

Ozpin ominously looked on for what Qrow would think the one-hundredth time before he stepped around his desk and grabbed his cane. 

"I am not just a headmaster," he replied. "I am also a huntsmen, and it is also my duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

* * *

It had been two hours since they were told to get ready.

Team RWBY and the three teachers stood in front of the bullhead, waiting for the three that were keeping them waiting. Professor Ozpin had tagged along as well to everyone's surprise. they all watched as the Team NPR rushed to the bullhead pad.

"S-Sorry!" Pyrrha apologized, taking a breathe from the running she was doing. "Nora decided to lock herself in our dorm and we didn't have the key!"

"My ears are still ringing." Ren noted.

"That door didn't know what was coming!" Nora exclaimed.

"Is everyone ready!?" Port yelled enthusiastically, earning a simultaneous 'yeah!' from the seven.

"Remember students, this isn't a Grimm. This is a creature with immense power and is extremely unpredictable. Caution is _heavily_ required when interacting with it." Glynda stated. 

Everyone entered the bullhead before the door closed, and it took off. Dark clouds loomed overhead as they headed to the northern-most part of Sanus, and mentally prepared themselves to fight against what they felt like was a demon straight from hell.

If only they knew what would come after the death of it.

* * *

**"Here it is!"**

The two cleared past the thick forest the find themselves in front of a giant wall of stone, presumably under the giant cliff that Jaune had seen when in the village. In the base of the cliff was a large cave, perfect to live in. "And _How_ did you know this place existed exactly?" Jaune asked, approaching the cave with the ball of fog.

He didn't reply.

"Unknown?" Jaune looked back to see him dormant. just... hovering there. No answer, no reply, like he was waiting for something.

 **"...Nothing."** he snarled. His tone suggested that something was on his mind. **"The Beowolf you named Pete was killed, by the way."**

"What!?"

Jaune never knew he'd say it, but he was actually kinda sad his Grimm buddy died. He was helpful, and he was someone, or at least some _thing_ he could vent to without being mocked and laughed at. Now that he thought about it Unknown is _very_ unpredictable when it comes to his personality. He can either be a smart and composed master, or a Sociopathic maniac that sounds like he drinks blood for fun. It scared him, which he guessed is the point of it, but, what made him this way? _Why_ was he doing this?

 **"Setup your things. I'll be back,"** he stated, quickly flying upwards. Jaune looked on as he went up and to the top of the cliff. What kind of things would a ball of fog be doing up there?

* * *

Unknown hovered up to the cliff, and a beautiful meadow laid in front of him. All while in the middle of it sat a hill with a tree atop it. The grass and the tree swayed with the wind. From up here, you could see the side of mountain Glenn clear as day. The bright sunny sky was in the middle of being filled by the dark clouds overhead.

Unknown approached the tree. the trunk looks to have been untouched, left alone for many years. A sudden sound of bones crackling came from Unknown before a giant spider-leg-like arm swiftly erupted from the small ball of fog. The arm slowly pressed its sharp end into the tree, and it started to engrave something into it. The thing retracted its skinny appendage out of the tree, and the engraving was of a padlock. The thing put the sharp spike back into the tree and crudely drew the lock being lifted to unlock. The tree glowed a bright orange before a sudden burst of air erupted from the tree, shaking the grass on the ground in the sudden strong breeze.

 **"She doesn't know what's impossible,"** it growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally got to see what Unknown looks like! Or what form he took to talk to them at least. This chapter was supposed to be twice as long as I planned on putting the confrontation of Team RWBY and NPR against Unknown, but the chapter just grew until I made the decision to put it in the next chapter.


	8. The boy and the monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out he's just gullible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention it in the last chapter but holy god almighty I never expected this to get 1000 hits. Thanks!

The bullhead shook as it closed the distance to the ground, and the door opened to the village they were called to. The sky was filled with dark and gloomy clouds, with raindrops occasionally falling from the clouds above them. They took out their weapons and headed into the woods where it was surely hiding.

They exited the bullhead "Remember students, be careful! We don't want any casualties when attacking this creature!" Doctor Oobleck spoke.

"Do we know where it is?" Blake asked. 

"Not a single clue!" Oobleck replied, his tone unchanged. "But it shouldn't be hard to find it and Mr. Arc!"

"The first location would probably be the cliff, due to its many caves on the base of the cliff. Mr. Arc may be living in one." Glynda noted.

They walked off the beaten path and entered the thick wild trees towards the cliff. The air got colder as the trees swayed with the wind. critters on the ground scurried away from the cliff as the wind got stronger. 

"Do you think that's Jaune?" Yang asked. 

"Maybe. There wouldn't be any other reason they would be frightened." Professor Port answered.

They continued to venture forward, eventually leaving the thick forest and into a small empty area between the cliff wall and the trees. They all started to slowly split up, to look for any caves that Jaune would be hiding in.

"Nothing here!" Nora yelled from a distance. 

"Nothing here either!" Blake yelled too.

The rest walked around the area, looking for their blond friend. It had been about four minutes of walking around and looking for any trace of a cave that Jaune could be in. The others all eventually stated the lack of Jaune in their area, which only left Yang. She doubted he would be here, living in a cave, but they were here to find him and kill Unknown, so it didn't matter if he was here or not, they would go look somewhere else. But the lack of footprints on the ground suggests nobody has been here in a while. Yang continued to walk, looking for any sort of equipment or things one might need to survive out in the wild. In boredom, she looked to the sky and let out a loud groan. "Where the hell are you Jaune?!" she yelled.

"Y-Yang!?"

The brawler quickly looked forward towards the familiar voice, and to her very surprise, there she stood, in front of a surprised and shocked Jaune and his cave. 

"Vomit boy!" she exclaimed happily. "We've been looking for yo-"

She stopped.

_"...Jaune?"_

The boy in front of him had slowly taken out his sword and shield and braced himself nervously, looking at her with a steely stare. His stare gave her goosebumps. Never in her life had she had thought of Jaune looking at her with such anger. Yang did not return the hostility and stared back in confusion.

"...W-what are you doing?" she asked, backing away from the knight. "Jaune? Jaune, answer me!" she yelled.

"Why are you here?" has asked, annoyed in his tone.

"Jaune, we came to take you home!" she answered.

"And why would you do that?" he asked, venom in his words.

Yang had been taken aback by his snap back at her. "Because we're friends?" she answered.

"That's not what Unknown said! What he _showed_ me!" he yelled.

"That was a lie, Jaune!" the brawler replied. "He's lying to make us look bad!"

"And why should I trust you?" 

"why would you trust a fog monster that gave you nightmares!?"

"That's all I had!" he snapped back.

"You have _us_ , Jaune!" Yang spoke. "You always did."

To her joy, his grip got tighter on his weapon, signifying that he was struggling to not believe her. He clenched his teeth before shouting. "Then what about what you said!? About how you wanted to forget me!?"

"We didn't say anything like that, Jaune. Your team hasn't been the same." Yang spoke solemnly. "We miss you."

The boy struggled as Yang looked on at him. His breath grew heavy as his weapons grew heavier. 

" **JAUNE!** "

A scream echoed through the forest from a very familiar red-head. Jaune's face grew fearful as he was aggressively tackled by the last three members of his team from behind. They all hugged him tightly as the boy looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

"Are you okay Jaune!? It didn't hurt you, did it?" Pyrrha asked frantically, checking him for any injuries.

"We missed you, you big dummy!" Nora cheered. 

"Even Weiss," Ren noted.

" _...A lot..._ " Yang murmured to herself as Ruby joined the Jaune pile and the rest of team RWBY joined Yang with standing and watching.

 _"Oh thank god,"_ Weiss whispered to herself.

"Looks like the ice queen won't be alone tonight, huh?" Yang joked, earning a viciously deadly glare from the heiress.

"Is he... okay?" Blake asked, pointing at the knight

"I think his brain stopped," said Ruby, looking at the knight under the four who had a completely blank expression. "Is this a problem?"

"I assure you it is not," everyone looked to see the teachers approaching them, a smile adorn their faces. "He will be okay."

**"What a reunion."**

Everyone immediately prepared themselves, the rest of team JNPR and Ruby standing up and preparing for a fight as the ball of fog ominously watched from in front of them.

**"I think that belongs to me!"**

Before they could react, an arm grew from the ball of fog and quickly grabbed Jaune and dragged him to him. unknown stood Jaune on his feet and the arm quickly retracted back into the ball of fog. Without changing his expression, Jaune took his stance to fight.

**"Jaune, it seems that we're running out of time. We will be leaving now."**

The arm grew back and grabbed Jaune, where they started to float upward towards the cliffside. "Jaune, wait!" Ruby yelled.

"We need to get up there!" Weiss insisted, creating a pattern of glyphs that everyone could use to climb the cliff. they jumped onto the glyphs and climbed the cliffside, and urgency to their chase. they finally all landed on the cliff and so Jaune and Unknown next to the tree.

"HEY!" Yang yelled, getting the two's attention. Jaune had a worried look in his eyes as they ran towards them. the wind shook the grass around them as it started to rain around them.

**"Fight them, Arc. Show them why they shouldn't have abandoned you."**

A large spike grew from Unknown as Jaune slowly brought Crocea Mors up to fight. The spike steadied itself in front of the padlock that was carved into the tree.

**"One more inch and you shall be free..."**

They rushed towards the tree to try and stop whatever the monster was about to unleash, but it was too late, they weren't going to make it. Jaune stood beside the beast with steadied and concentrated, yet conflicted hands. Not even Ruby was fast enough to get to Unknown. There was no hope.

_**Slice** _

A sword, white as the armor he wore, cut the beast's arm off. the arm writhed in pain, with each movement of the limb sounding like a bug's limb had been torn off and was uncontrollably swinging around. The arm dissipated into the sky, yet Unknown made no reply, no reaction. Jaune quickly put his shield up and cautiously and slowly started to back away from him. 

"...You lied to me-"

**"̷̳̔̆S̷͔̔H̸͖̭̆Ụ̷̓T̷̛͚͆ ̵̞͇̋U̵̘̍P̶͇͕͆̇!̶̣̮̓!̶̰̬̏͑"**

A large demonic arm grew from Unknown within a split second and punched the knight across the field. The knight tumbled across the grass until he finally stopped. "Jaune!" They all yelled. Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ruby ran to his side as he struggled to sit up after the violent attack. They looked on as the ball of fog grew tenfold, morphing into a torso as a pair of legs and arms sprouted from the fog. Finally, a head grew from the top, the same features it had when they spoke to it. The fog atop its head flowed upward like smoke from a fire.

 **"̷1̶5̴ ̶Y̵E̷A̸R̶S̴ ̵I̸ ̴W̶A̵S̵ ̷S̷T̶U̴C̴K̵ ̸I̷N̶ ̴T̷H̸A̷T̴ ̷V̸O̸I̴D̸,̷ ̷Y̴U̴R̸N̷I̷N̴G̶ ̷F̸O̴R̶ ̴R̵E̸V̶E̴N̸G̴E̴!̸!̸ ̷A̶N̷D̸ ̶N̶O̴W̴,̸ ̶A̷F̷T̶E̸R̷ ̵M̵Y̸ ̴W̴O̴R̶K̴,̷ ̶A̷F̷T̵E̷R̴ ̶W̸H̶A̵T̴ ̸I̶'̴V̷E̸ ̴D̸O̶N̵E̸,̴ ̷I̶ ̷W̴O̸N̸'̵T̶ ̶L̴E̸T̶ ̵T̵H̴E̸ ̵S̴A̴M̷E̸ ̶P̶E̵O̸P̷L̸E̶ ̸I̷ ̵Y̸U̵R̵N̵ ̷T̵O̸ ̶T̶E̸A̴R̵ ̵A̷P̴A̶R̴T̶ ̴S̵T̸O̸P̵ ̷M̵E̷!̷!̶ ̵I̴'̶L̶L̷ ̷B̶R̷I̴N̷G̶ ̶Y̸O̷U̵R̷ ̵H̷E̶A̶D̸S̸ ̸T̴O̴ ̷M̸Y̴ ̷G̶O̶D̷,̵ ̷A̶N̷D̶ ̴I̵ ̵W̷I̴L̵L̵ ̴G̸E̵T̸ ̶M̸Y̸ ̶R̸E̵V̷E̷N̶G̸E̸!̴!̸"̶** It screamed.

Its voice sounded like television static. Like a broken radio. It sounded like it was unstable, and it was angry. Its true form had been revealed; a demonic beast of discord and hatred. It was terrifying. Its limbs twitched violently as its head span around its shoulders, yet the infuriated face it made still stayed stationary. 

**"̶I̸ ̸W̶A̷S̵ ̸C̵R̷E̶A̴T̴E̴D̸ ̴F̷O̷R̴ ̸D̴E̵S̶T̷R̸U̴C̸T̶I̷O̸N̷ ̵A̴N̴D̵ ̴N̶I̶G̵H̴T̷M̶A̶R̴E̵S̶!̷ ̷I̸ ̶W̶I̸L̸L̵ ̶D̴O̴ ̵J̴U̷S̸T̵ ̵T̴H̷A̸T̵!̵!̶ ̵M̶A̶Y̴ ̸R̵E̵A̶V̶E̶R̵ ̶C̷U̸R̸S̵E̶ ̶M̷E̸ ̵W̷I̴T̶H̶ ̷H̵I̴S̵ ̸P̸O̵W̷E̷R̷!̵!̷"̸**

The beast stood on all fours as it screamed into the air. everyone covered their ears as the glass-shattering scream traveled through the air and pushed the clouds above them away, clearing the sky. 

"That's the thing that attacked me!" Qrow noted. 

"Then try to kill it this time!" Port yelled. Every huntsmen and huntress around started to unload every round they had into the large beast as it scurried and crawled across the grass, swinging its sharp wild claws towards them like a wild dog.

**"̶I̴'̶L̶L̷ ̵E̸A̸T̷ ̶Y̷O̷U̸R̶ ̵F̴L̴E̶S̷H̴ ̴A̴S̸ ̶Y̶O̸U̷ ̴B̵E̶G̷ ̷F̶O̶R̶ ̷D̴E̵A̸T̶H̷!̴"̷**

"Jaune, are you okay?!" Ruby asked frantically, helping him sit up from his landing spot. 

Jaune grunted in pain as he rubbed his hand against his throbbing head. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." he answered. "...I-its made of fog. Bullets don't hurt him."

"Then what do we do?" Pyrrha asked. 

The monster stopped. The gunfire from everyone else halted in response. Pyrrha stared at the beast as its head slowly turned to face the four, and their hearts dropped. "R-Ruby!" Weiss panicked. Unknown started to approach them slowly as its head twitched violently while a villainous grin was plastered onto its face. 

**"̶A̵c̷h̷i̴l̶l̶e̴s̸.̷"̸** It growled. **"̸T̸H̴E̴ ̸D̵E̷A̶D̸ ̴G̷I̶R̴L̸!̵"̷**

The slow pace it took changed to an urgent and hungry run as it sprinted towards them. The hellfire from the others resumed as they desperately tried to stop it from reaching them, but it failed, not even making it flinch. the bullet fire just fazed through Unknown like they were shooting at nothing. The four quickly started to get back to their feet and they ran, but the thing chased after them. 

Weiss' scroll buzzed.

Weiss quickly grabbed her scroll and looked at whoever was calling her. Unknown still hot on their trail, with Ruby joining the trend of shooting at it to try to at least slow it down, but it was useless.

'ZV'

The heiress quickly took the call and put it to her ear frantically "Yes!?" she asked loudly as Ruby unloaded every clip she had at the monster.

"Fire." said the man at the other end.

"Excuse me!?" the heiress asked for him to repeat himself.

"Fire! Crystals, dust! Fire evaporates fog! Come on, This is basic science!" the man snapped back.

"A-alright!" The heiress hung up and quickly switched to fire dust on Myrtenaster. Steadying her rapier, she finally shot a large ball of fire directly towards Unknown's face.

 **"̵̖̓Ȑ̴̨A̸͙̚Ą̸͋Ả̸͕H̷̠͝H̷̘̾,̷̙͂ ̵̧́Y̴͚̓Ó̴̩U̸̞̽ ̶̫̀F̷̺̓Ụ̷̔C̵̣̕K̶̢̃I̵̺̔N̴͓̾G̸͖͘ ̶̖̈́B̷̨̓Ȋ̸̤T̸̩̂C̶̺͒H̸̱͠!̷͙̃"̸̢̈́** It screamed, holding both its hands over its face to cover up the fairly large hole that went straight through its left eye. **"̸͈̕Ȓ̸ͅẢ̶̘A̸͎͠A̶̹À̵̰Ą̵͝A̸̮͠A̷̒ͅA̴̖͐H̸̳̋H̶͚̏H̶̢̿!̵̹̏!̵͖̎!̸̞̊"̴̟̏**

It screamed in agony as the four stopped in shock and watched as it writhed in pain, stumbling backward on its two legs. **"̶̙̃G̸̻̅O̵̊ͅD̸͒ͅ ̶̙̿F̵̬̃U̶̫̎C̵͉̓K̵͎̈́Ĭ̵ͅN̶̡͘G̶̠͒ ̷͖̿D̵̲̈Á̴̩M̷̹̚N̶͓̒I̷̟̿T̶̛͙ ̷̣̌T̶͎̿H̴̭͗Ȧ̸̻T̶͚͝ ̸̤̌H̸̝͂U̴͒ͅR̶̖̂T̵͍͆S̷̩͆!̷̨̈!̶̹͝!̷̳͐"̸̖**

"Yes!" the four cheered. throwing their arms into the air in celebration. They knew its weakness! It was fire!

~~ _**"̴S̵ ̵C̴ ̸H̴ ̷N̵ ̷E̴ ̸E̶"̴** _ ~~

Their celebration stopped like a truck smashing into a wall; Blunt, painful, and traumatic. Its arm grew and grabbed Weiss, and retracted back to Unknown, the three reached out to try and save her, but it was too late. Everyone got ready to attack it, but they were stopped by it using Weiss as a meat shield. **"̵Y̸o̶u̷ ̸c̷a̵n̴'̶t̵ ̸s̶h̵o̷o̶t̷ ̶m̴e̴ ̸w̷i̸t̵h̶o̷u̵t̴ ̵m̷a̵k̶i̴n̷g̴ ̴a̷ ̵l̷i̸t̶t̷l̵e̴ ̴s̷n̷o̷b̵b̶y̶ ̷s̶t̴u̷c̸k̷-̵u̷p̶ ̵b̵i̶t̵c̴h̸ ̷l̸o̶o̴k̵ ̶l̵i̴k̸e̷ ̵s̷w̴i̸s̶s̴-̷c̴h̶e̴e̸s̷e̷!̴"̸** It shouted. Weiss struggled from its grasp, but it had a vice-like grip on her. 

**"̷Y̴o̴u̷ ̷a̵r̵e̴ ̸t̷h̷e̵ ̵r̵e̷a̷s̷o̵n̴ ̸t̶h̵e̵y̷ ̵a̴r̶e̵ ̷h̷e̷r̶e̸.̶ ̷Y̴o̷u̸ ̴a̷r̴e̵ ̶t̴h̴e̶ ̸r̷e̴a̷s̶o̴n̷ ̸m̷y̷ ̶j̸o̴b̸ ̶i̵s̴ ̷h̴a̸r̶d̵e̶r̴.̶ ̸A̷l̴l̶ ̷b̵e̶c̴a̸u̵s̶e̴ ̴y̵o̵u̵ ̸w̶a̵n̵t̸e̶d̶ ̴t̴o̵ ̷s̸e̴e̷ ̴t̴h̸a̵t̷ ̷f̸a̷i̷l̷u̴r̶e̷ ̶o̵f̴ ̷a̸ ̵h̷e̶r̶o̴.̴"̸** It snarled into her ear. **"̷S̵o̷ ̸I̶ ̴t̶h̶i̸n̴k̶ ̴y̶o̷u̷ ̸d̴e̸s̵e̵r̷v̸e̸ ̶t̵o̷ ̶s̷e̵e̴ ̸h̷i̵m̶,̸ ̸d̸o̵n̵'̸t̶ ̸y̶o̵u̶ ̴t̶h̷i̸n̸k̵?̸"̵**

She continued to struggle from its grip, desperately trying to leave its grasp. She begged for anybody to do something, but she knew they couldn't without killing her. Her aura wouldn't be able to take it. 

Unknown slowly lifted his free hand and lent out a claw, where it slowly dragged it through the air like it was cutting through the air to try and cut open something.

And everybody's heart dropped when it actually did.

What Unknown opened was unbelievable, for it had cut open space and time to open a portal. The portal was an oval shape, with a dark blue swirl going into the middle of the portal. the portal slowly rippled in the air like an illusion. 

**"̷S̵a̸y̵ ̴h̷i̷ ̴t̷o̴ ̷y̴o̸u̵r̶ ̷J̸a̶u̴n̵e̴'̷s̷ ̶s̸u̸c̵c̸e̵s̸s̶o̶r̶ ̴f̴o̷r̵ ̸m̴e̶.̸"̶**

Unknown lifted Weiss upward and aggressively threw her into the portal. 

"WEISS!" Jaune shouted as the portal closed, and she was gone. "WHERE DID YOU SEND HER?!"

**"̴I̶ ̴S̴E̵N̸T̸ ̵H̴E̸R̶ ̶T̷O̶ ̸A̴ ̷W̶O̶R̷L̷D̴ ̶W̶H̸E̸R̵E̴ ̵G̸O̵D̷ ̸I̵S̵ ̴D̸E̸A̶D̷!̷!̵"̶**

* * *

She could remember being thrown into the portal. Weiss fell out of what she guessed was the other end of the portal and tumbled across a stone-patterned path. She couldn't hear anything other than the ringing in her ears. the lost girl slowly sat up and looked around. The sky was filled with dark and gloomy clouds, and the rubble around her looked dusty and old. This place felt extremely familiar yet unrecognizable. Finally getting the ability to stand, she investigated further. What was this place? Where was she? The familiar structures and buildings around her were strained of any color, leaving only the color grey in them. Where did this monster send her?

She continued to walk around the streets of this city. Whatever happened here was the biggest catastrophe in Remnant's history, and she had no knowledge this even existed. Which part of Remnant was she in? She had no clue where she was. The streets seemed to go on forever until she finally saw what looked like an opening, Probably the entrance to the city. running towards it, she ran into it and she quickly looked around with hope. But what she saw made her skin drain of blood.

In front of her was the very courtyard of Beacon Academy.

Turning around, her eyes followed the gigantic tower upward in the distance to the top, where the top of the tower was cleaved off, and a dragon the size of a city was perched frozen a top of it.

This was Beacon Academy.

For as unbelievable the fact was, Unknown had sent her to another universe. Like something ripped straight from a science-fiction book.

a universe where Beacon academy had fallen to the creatures of Grimm. 

She didn't know what to do anymore. Now that she knew where she was, she could go wherever she wanted in Beacon, or what was left of it. What was she to do? She stood there awe-struck by the depressing and heartbreaking sight of a great academy torn to its knees by what it swore to fight. Weiss could only really do one thing that caught her mind and was to return to her team's dorm room. 

She felt scared. Alone. Like she was the only one left on the planet. 

entering the building that held her dorm room, the lobby was completely different from the outside. There wasn't anything that would make the Grimm go inside, so everything that she had seen before leaving to fight Unknown was there, with minor things changed. she headed up to the floor where the dorm room was and approached it. The door looked colorless and dust covered the doorknob. The aura of this abandoned academy felt unnerving and made her constantly uncomfortable. She grasped the doorknob but was unsurprised by the doorknob falling apart by the touch. Pushing the door open, the room looked the same as her Team's own dorm room. Spiderwebs littered the room as bugs scurried across the moldy carpet. 

"This is... _terrible_." she finally spoke to herself.

Her train of thought was stopped by heavy and loud footsteps heading directly to her location. She gasped as she quickly took the closet as a hiding place. The footsteps got louder and louder as the door finally swung open. She couldn't see above the person's torso, so his identity was a mystery. Weiss held her breath as the man dragged in a chair and placed it in the middle of the room before leaving. She sighed, relieved that she didn't get caught. The heiress internally groaned as she heard the man start to come back, but he was dragging something. She watched the door as he walked back in, and she was horrified when she saw what he was dragging. An unconscious man with White Fang clothing. 

The man threw the White Fang member into the chair and started to tie them up. After finishing to tie the man up, he grabbed a chair from underneath the desk next to the door and put it in front of the White Fang member, and sat down onto it.

"Wake the fuck up." The man demanded, slapping them aggressively and waking them up.

"W-where am I!?" the now awoken man yelled frantically.

"You're with me, now where is she." the man asked, not a smidge of patience in his voice.

"W-who?" the White fang member asked fearfully.

"The cat. The dragon. Where are they?" 

"I-I don't know who you're talking about man-"

The interrogator plunged a knife into the man's kneecap. "AAAHHH, FUCK!" he screamed in pain.

The interrogator lightly slapped his face. "Eyes up here, dumbass. Where's the cat?"

"I-I-I don't k-know!-"

The interrogator twisted the knife, and the man screamed in pain. "YOU'RE INSANE!" the man yelled.

"The. Cat. The. Dragon."

The interrogator didn't sound like he had patience, but Weiss knew when the impatient get angry, and this man was infuriated. 

"I-I don't know who you're talking about!-"

The interrogator lunged from his chair and grabbed the man's collar. "BLAKE BELLADONNA! BLAKE XIAO LONG! WHERE THE FUCK IS BLAKE AND YANG XIAO LONG!?" he shouted.

Blake? Why would he be asking for Blake and Yang? But then again she was in a different universe, so it wasn't the smartest to question what was going on. 

"O-okay, Okay! They're in M-Mistral!" The man finally confessed.

"Really?" 

"Y-Yeah!'

"Let's ask your buddy then?"

The interrogator got up from his chair and approached the bathroom, where he opened the door and dragged out another White Fang member, unconscious. "Sam!?" the man yelled in shock.

The interrogator placed the unconscious man against the bed and tied them to it. "Yeah, it's Sam," he responded, walking over to the corner and picking up a bucket, where he threw the continents onto the unconscious man to wake him up.

"W-What!?" The second man blurted.

"Is Blake Xiao Long located in Mistral?" The interrogator asked.

"Who's asking?" He snapped.

The interrogator brandished a black revolver towards his head. "Your fucking nightmare." He threatened. "Do you see your friend over there? with a knife lodged into his knee? Do you want to join the Can-Never-Walk-Properly-Again club or do you wanna grow a brain and tell me right now?"

"Y-Yes! They're there!" The second man quickly answered. 

"Thanks."

**BANG!**

Weiss jumped in her hiding spot by the sudden gunshot. She looked at the man tied to the bed, and she silently gasped at the man with a hole directly in his forehead. His lifeless corpse slumped over as the other White Fang member screamed in terror.

"YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY!!" he screamed.

"I sure am."

**BANG!**

She was terrified. what would this person do to _her_ if he found her? She held her breath in pure fear as the man slowly opened the revolver and reloaded its chamber. And then that was when she realized something.

She was a huntress!

Why was she so scared of this person? She's killed armies of Grimm on her lonesome! She was brave! Brave enough to attack this despicable man and stop him from hurting more people! She was Weiss Schnee! Gathering the courage from her realization, she bravely pushed open the closet and took out Myrtenaster, prepared to attack whoever stood in her way!-

...Oh, how she regretted leaving that closet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took less time to make than the last chapter, and that's because I've had the idea of this chapter along with the next chapter's idea in my head probably since I started writing White Nightmare. The next chapter will entirely be with Weiss trying to escape this bizarre new world with the help of a familiar yet dangerous new stranger.


End file.
